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ACROSS 

THE ATLANTIC. 



LETTERS PROM 



FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, ITALY, 
AND ENGLAND. 



BY 



CHARLES H. HAESELER. ED. 






C PHILADELPHIA: 
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS; 
306 CHESTNUT STREET. 



TBE LIBRARY 
OF C ONOR S** 

WASHINGTOW 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, by 

CHARLES H. HAESELER, M.D., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



FROM THE MINER'S JOURNAL. 

"Across the Atlantic." — This is the title of a book of four 
hundred pages, just issued from the press of Messrs. T. B. Peterson 
& Brothers, Philadelphia. It contains a series of letters from 
France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and England, written by Dr. 
Charles H. Haescler, of this place, during a tour of Europe made 
by him last year. Nearly all of the letters appeared originally in 
the "Miner's Journal," but they have been rewritten and enlarged 
materially, so that the form in which they appear in the book, is 
more complete and interesting than that in which they were orig- 
inally published. Of the great merit of these letters of Dr. Haeseler, 
it would be superfluous for us to speak in this community, where they 
were read with so much interest by all classes during their first 
publication. Their freshness and originality, combined with the 
varied information they contained, were themes of constant com- 
mendation, and there was but one opinion, that these letters were 
decidedly the best which had appeared for years. It will be a 
source of gratification, we are sure, to many who have read and ad- 
mired Dr. Haeseler's letters, to know that they are now preserved 
in the enduring form of a neat, well-printed book, and we do not 
doubt that the work will have an extended circulation, not only in 
this county, but in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and all the 
other cities of the Union, when it shall become known ; and, in fact, 
everywhere where the "Journal" is taken, and where the letters 
published in its columns have been read and admired. We feel 
great pleasure in announcing the appearance of "Across the At- 
lantic." It is published in a beautiful duodecimo volume, printed 
on the finest paper, and bound in cloth, in the best and strongest 
manner, with gilt back and side, and is sold at the low price of Two 
Dollars a copy. 



TO 

CHARLES WITTIG, M.D., 

OF PHILADELPHIA, 

THE FRIEND AND COMPATRIOT OF MY FATHER, AND ONE OF 

THE MOST CHERISHED PRECEPTORS OF MY YOUTH, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 

IN TESTIMONY OF 

UNFEIGNED RESPECT FOR HIS TALENTS 
AND PHILANTHROPY. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 
The Voyage — Incidents at Sea — The Steamer — Our Passen- 
gers — A Romance at Sea — A Bear on Board — Amusements 
on Board — Life on the Ocean Wave — The Jolly Smoking- 
Room — Music on Board — Sabbath — Arrival at Havre — 
First Impressions — The Wines — Railroads — Arrival at Paris. 33 

LETTER II. 
Flitting about Paris; Its Streets; Houses — Shops of Paris — 
Sculpture — Garden of Plants — Its Museums — Cathedral of 
Notre Dame — Place Vendome — Bird's-Eye View of Paris- — 
Sunday in Paris — Hacks and Carriages — The Servants — 
Operas, Theatres 60 

LETTER III. 
The Grand Exposition — It is no Failure — Its Machinery De- 
partment — Mechanical Department — Its Saloons — Chinese 
Theatres — Negro Minstrels — American Contributions — De- 
partment of Fine Arts — Statue of the Dying Napoleon — De- 
partment of Jewelry — Dry Goods — Agricultural Depart- 
ment — Building of U. S. Sanitary Commission — Reserved 

(xxi) 



XXii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Garden — Aquarium in the Cave — Notabilities who visit the 
Exposition— M. A. F.'s (My American Friend) Opinion of 
the Exposition — The Rush for the Exposition — Expenses of 
Living — Princes and Potentates in Paris 62 

LETTER IV. 

Amusements of the Parisians — About the Theatres — Romeo 
and Juliet, L'Africaine — C;if'6s Chantants — The Love of 
Flowers — The Races at the Bois de Boulogne — Grand Turn- 
out — Balloon Ascension — A French Thimble-rigger — Im- 
perial Palaces — The Soldiers — Police System of Paris — 
Mystery but Safety — Paris at Night — The Wines and the 
Water 79 

LETTER V. 

Medical Institutions of Paris — Boulevard de Sebastopol — The 
Hotel I)ieu — Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine — Medical Book and 
Instrument Shops — Professional Reflections — The Faculty 
of Paris — Examinations for Medical Doctorate — Colored 
Students — The Latin Quarter — Drs. Velpeau and Trous- 
seau — The Hospitals 91 

LETTER VI. 

Memory of the Great Napoleon — His Tomb — The Invalides — 
Louvre — Imperial Museum — Palace of the Tuileries — The 
Imperial Family — The Champs Ely sees — Jardin Mabille — An 
Adventure — Farewell to Paris 102 

LETTER VII. 

The Champagne District— Strasburg, its Cathedral — The As- 
tronomical Clock — Going up the Steeple — The Storks — On 



CONTENTS. xxm 

PAGE 

top of the Steeple — My American Friend — An Incident, In- 
terchange of Jewels — Monuments of Strasburg — How the 
Women Work — Freiburg — The Black Forest — The Hollen- 
thal — The Inventor of Gunpowder 113 

LETTER VIII. 

Switzerland — Zurich — The Uetliberg — The Hotel Baur au 
Lac — Lake Zurich — Scholastic Institutions of Zurich — 
Curiosities of Zurich — Amusing Incidents — Pleasant Travel- 
ling Companions — An American Anecdote, in which M. A. F. 
spreads himself — He spins a Yarn and speaks a Piece — 
Indifference to American Affairs — Telegraphs and News- 
papers — Comparisons Drawn 124 

LETTER IX. 

Switzerland — Up Lake Zurich — Hay-making — Trout-Fish- 
ing — A Swiss Cottage — Sojourn with a Swiss Family — A 
Knotty Question Solved — A Band of Minstrels — Lake Zug — 
Sunrise from the Rigi — Lucerne— -Altdorf — Wm. Tell — 
Burgeln — St. Gotthard — Andermatt — Snow-balling on the 
Alps — Lucerne «... 137 

LETTER X 

Switzerland — Berne — Its Origin — Predilection for Bruin — 
The Bears in the Pen — Bears all over Town — Grindel- 
wald — The Glacier — The Ice-Grotto — A Storm on the 
Alps — A Night on the Alps ... .. 152 

LETTER XI. 

Switzerland — Lake Brienz — The Giesbach Waterfall — Staub- 
bach Cascade — Interlaken — Geneva — The Turner-Fest — 



xxiv CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Trip to Chamouny — Among the Alps — Over the Tete-Noir 
Pass to Martigny — The Castle of Chillon — Down the Lake of 
Geneva — Return to Zurich — En Route to Munich — An In- 
teresting Incident at Zurich 163 



LETTER XII. 

Munich — Passion of the People for Music — Gossip about the 
King — Art Galleries — Distinguished Portraits — Visit to the 
Bronze Foundry — A Monumental Colonnade — Beer — Stutt- 
gardt — Its Palaces and other Buildings — Carlsruhe — Baden- 
Baden — The Archduke's Castle — The Conversation Hall — 
Gaming 176 



LETTER XIII. 

Heidelberg; Its Castle — Fourth of July — The American 
Flag — We meet a Friend and celebrate the Day — Manheim 
and its Surroundings — Visit to Worms — Drive to Bensheim — 
Religious Meeting in the Woods — My American Friend grows 
Eloquent over the Recollection of a Pennsylvania Camp- 
meeting 194 



LETTER XIV. 

Mayence; Its Fortifications — Frankfurt — Notable Houses — 
Imperial Hall — Wiesbaden — A Marvellous Spring — The Cur- 
saal — Visit to the Castle of Johannisberg — Down the Rhine — 
Scenery, Castles, etc. — Cologne — Its Cathedral — Interest- 
ing Features of the City — Opinion of the Rhine — Cassel — 
University of Gottingen — Arrival at Northeim 212 



CONTENTS. XXV 

PAGE 

LETTER XV. 

A German Town — Rural Life— The Dwellings — A Dignified 
Game of Nine-Pins — My American Friend rolls and produces 
a "Pumpe" — A Fine Sulphur Spring — A Dancing Hall — The 
Delirious Waltz — Life at the Brunnen and in the Town — Close 
of the Day at the Hotel Sonne 226 

LETTER XVI 

Growth of Berlin — Military Spirit of Prussia — The King and 
Bismarck — Their Visit to Napoleon — Unter den Linden — 
National Library — Museums and University — The House of 
Alexander Von Humboldt — Bliicher's Monument — The Or- 
pheum — Zoological and Botanical Gardens — The River Spree 
— A beautiful Forest 237 

LETTER XVII. 

My American Friend takes a Ramble through the Streets of 
Berlin — Gazes in the Shop-windows and sees Something — 
Finds out an Address and goes in Pursuit of it — What Hap- 
pens there — An Accident — Does a little Doctoring — Makes 
the Acquaintance of a Prussian Soldier — Some Military 
Talk — An Heroic Action — Description of the Battle of Lan- 
gensalza 248 

LETTER XVII I. 

City of Leipzig — Hahnemann's Monument — Goethe's Faust, 
and Auerbach's Cellar — The Book-Trade and University of 
Leipzig — Dresden — Treasures and Works of Art — The Green 
Vaults — Kaufmann's Acoustic Cabinet — The Schiitzenfest of 
the Vogelwiese — A Trip up the Elbe to Konigstein — Visit to 
the Battlefield of Sadowa, or Konigsgr'atz 259 



xxvi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

LETTER XIX. 

The Austrians — Their Personal Points — The Imperial Vaults 
in the Church of the Capuchins — Palace of Schonbrun — 
University of Vienna — The General Hospital — Rokitansky, 
the Pathologist — Rev. Dr. Mann, of Philadelphia 270 



LETTER XX. 

Visit to a Wonderful Cave at Adelsberg — The City of Trieste — 
The Adriatic — The Cholera Mortality in Italy — Superstition 
and Ignorance of the People — Venice — Fumigation Process 
on entering the City — Curiosities of the Place — Milan; Its 
Magnificent Cathedral — The Lake of Como — From Milan to 
Genoa — From Genoa to Pisa, Leghorn, and Florence 281 



LETTER XXL 

Journey through Italy — Luxuriant Vegetation — The Italians — 
Beggars — Art — A Visit to the Studio of Hiram Powers — My 
American Friend's Adventures — The Galleries, Art Models, 
etc. — From Florence to Rome — A Fair Snuffer — Poetical 
Effusion of M. A. F. — Thoughts on the Eternal City — The 
Cathedrals of St. Peter and St. Paul — His Holiness Pius IX. 302 



LETTER XXII. 

Rome— The Appian Way — The Caracall Baths— The Cata- 
combs — Circus Maxentius — Cholera — The Diet of the Ro- 
mans — Visit to the Pope's Residence — The Pantheon — In 
Memoriam — Raphael — Adieu to Rome — En Route to Paris — 
Bologna — Turin — Susa — The Mt. Cenis Pass over the Alps — 
Arrival at Paris 323 



CONTENTS. XXVll 

PAGH 

LETTER XXIII. 

Paris — Professor Watts' Funeral — Doctors Trousseau, Velpeau, 
and Nelaton — Death of the two Former — The Writer has a 
Spell of Sickness — The Fashions of Paris — The Opera 
Season — Incidents — A Musical Anecdote — My American 
Friend in Trouble 337 

LETTER XXIV. 
Paris — A Thrilling Incident of Parisian Life — A Query — 
Anecdote — Reminiscences'^ f the First Napoleon — Cemetery 
of Pere La Chaise — Manufactory of the Gobelin Tapestry — 
Hotel de Ville — Jardin D'Acclimatation — Birds, Beasts, and 
Fishes therein 350 

LETTER XX Y. 
The Railroad Depots of Europe — Departure from Paris — Cross- 
ing the Channel — Sea-Sickness — Calais and Dover — Ar- 
rival at London — Good Cheer — Comfortable once more — 
The Tower — St. Paul's — Under-Ground and Over-Head Rail- 
roads — Westminster Abbey — London and Paris Compared — 
Hospitals of London — From London to Liverpool — Meet 
with Friends — Voyage Home — An Incident — M. A. F.'s 
"Pome" on the Occasion 365 

^LETTER XXVI. 
Review of my Trip — European Manners, Customs, Politics, 
etc. — Topography of Europe; Of England; Of Italy; Of 
France and Germany — Sociality of Europeans — Selfishness 
of Parisians — Kindness of the Austrians — The Good-Natured 
Munichians — Temperate Habits of Europeans — Good Be- 
havior of the Youth — The Armies of Europe — Importance 
of Understanding the Languages of Europe 376 



xxvm CONTENTS. 

PAOS 

LETTER XXVII. 
Concluding Letter by my American Friend — A Sea-Voyage a 
Humbug — Discomforts of a Ship — Of Landing in a Foreign 
Country — Bound to be Skinned — Kid Gloves of Paris — The 
Liquors and Wines of Europe — Endless Sight-Seeing — 
Sculpture — Tumble-Down Ruins of Europe — Climbing up 
the Alps — The Churches — The Railroads — Nothing like 
America — God Bless our Country 386 



APOLOGY. 



TK submitting these letters to the public, I would 
-*- fain make a few observations of personal import 
between you, gracious reader, and myself. I did not 
at first intend to write more than a few cursory letters, 
in order to obviate the necessity of numerous com- 
munications of similar contents to my personal friends. 
I soon, however, found the work growing upon my 
affections, and assuming the shape of a conversation, 
wherein I did all the talking, supposing that your 
part of it was to take place on my return home, when 
I should faithfully do all the listening ; and thus it 
was that this weekly writing became less a task than 
a pleasant companionship between us. I sincerely 
hope that I have not unreasonably bored you ; but 
if I have, it was your own fault ; for you could easily 
have gone over to Petroleum V. Nasby, the County 
Conventions, the sparkling editorials, or the Mar- 
riages and Deaths, — as the journal is a cuisinier of 

( xxix ) 



xxx APOLOGY. 

unbounded capacities, and caters sumptuously for 
many tastes, provided, only, that they are normal. 

I know that, take it all in all, I have presented an 
incongruous melange of the would-be sublime and the 
ridiculous ; and the transitions from the one to the 
other have frequently been so sudden as to outrage 
all scholastic rules and propriety. But then my 
theme has been such a mutatory one, so varied and 
diversified in character, that it was quite impossible 
to preserve the even dignity of a treatise on mathe- 
matical problems, or Locke (I had almost said, Pad- 
lock) on the Human Understanding. Nor am I quite 
clear about the grammatical character of these writ- 
ings ; my recollection of Kirkham's Grammar being 
principally confined to the fact that it contained a 
chart of twenty-four, or forty-four, or a hundred and 
four (I have forgotten which) rules, all numbered 
with Roman figures, as glaring as those on the dial 
of a town-clock ; and that this chart, when unfolded, 
had the appearance of the constitution, articles, and 
by-laws of an infallible oil company. If every boy 
learned as much from that grammar — including the 
chart — as I did, then Mr. Kirkham had better saved 
his brains in its construction, and written a story 
about the wild Indians instead — which would have 
been much more interesting to study. Sometimes, 
with rather questionable taste, the Profession has 



APOLOGY. xxxi 

slipped a little profusely into these letters ; and I feel 
a misgiving that there are those who will attribute 
ulterior motives to this circumstance, or at least 
charge me with egotism. But, indeed, they are mis- 
taken ; for the dear knows there is nothing about me 
to warrant or cultivate such a feeling. It was so 
natural and thoughtless to mix these items with the 
rest, that if it was an error, I sincerely hope to be 
forgiven. After all, there is nothing that the shoe- 
maker understands so well as leather ; and I would 
rather hear him talk leather all day, than a brief 
period of things that he knows nothing about. Some- 
times an observation has gone forth that, on subse- 
quent reflection, I would have scratched out ; but 
when the relentless mail authorities once have these 
matters in hand, there remains no alternative but to 
telegraph ; and at a hundred dollars a line, this 
manner of sober second thinking becomes rather an 
extravagant recreation. So, upon the whole, I have 
let things go as people get married — "for better or 
worse." Should I at any time have made allusions 
at which any person could take umbrage, I want it 
distinctly understood that it was always in a Pick- 
wickian sense, and as free from malice as the genial 
heart of that distinguished individual. And now let 
me add, supposing this to be the end of my last letter 
from Europe, that no child ever looked forward to 



xxxn APOLOGY. 

the advent of Christmas morning, and all its joyous 
associations, with more heartfelt happiness than that 
with which I anticipate greeting you at an early day. 
With this assurance, believe me, dear reader, 

Yours, truly, 

C. H. H. 

Pottsville, Pa., October, 1868. 



ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 



LETTER I. 

KEFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 

THE VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC— INCIDENTS OF THE 
PASSAGE. — HAVRE. — RAILWAY TRIP TO PARIS. — AGRI- 
CULTURAL APPEARANCES OF THE COUNTRY. — ARRIVAL 
IN PARIS. 

Paris, April, 1867. 

THERE are, in the physical nature and topography 
of our own country, all the grandeur and sub- 
limity of scenery ; in its population, all the diversity 
of human caste, color and character, to afford ample 
material for study throughout a lifetime of travel. 
But there is such a strange fascination, and almost 
superstitious feeling associated with the circumstance 
of sailing across a great ocean of water, as if, when 
the solid earth recedes from view, the life connected 
with it also passed away, and we were drifting to 
another and a strange region ; so that, while the 
people of the Old World are eager to learn the won- 
ders of the western hemisphere, there is always a 
peculiar charm to our own minds in the recital of 
European travels. 

I could never realize, until I crossed the Atlantic, 
what a brave heart, what a clear head, and what an 

3 (33) 



34 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

absolute confidence in the correctness of his theory 
Columbus must have had when he pioneered his 
course through that trackless waste. In our time, a 
voyage across the ocean is such a common occurrence, 
that it is generally passed over in a hurried manner 
by those who write letters. But, although the dan- 
gers and duration of such a voyage are greatly dimin- 
ished by the use of steam, and the strong, colossal, 
and magnificent proportions of our ocean steamers, 
yet is the distance across, and the vastness and awful 
sublimity of that body of water, just as great now 
as it was in the time of Columbus ; it is just as lonely 
now to be on its shoreless and echoless bosom as it 
was then. I have stood for hours by the side of our 
vessel, and watched it cleaving through the deep blue 
waves — watched how the ceaseless paddles of the 
huge side-wheels piled up the wild foam of the 
lashed waters like great long banks of drifted snow — 
watched along the straight, wide track in the rear 
of the keel until it faded away in the far-off horizon ; 
nothing but water to be seen — deep, dark, limitless 
water all around. Nothing of life, save that on board 
our vessel ; save, also, an occasional sea-gull, that 
seems like a condemned spirit, or an erratic comet, 
doomed to soar forever through the trackless air ; or 
a spluttering porpoise that appears to look upon our 
ship as a monstrous fish — rushing along in playful 
admiration by our side, blowing and snorting impos- 
ingly, even as a little creature courtier does before 
the great magnates and lordlings of the earth, ^ay, 
but we sometimes meet a sail coming from the direc- 
tion to which we are journeying, and therefore we 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 35 

are, after all, not quite so lonely as was that little 
craft, under the guidance of the discoverer of our 
country. Methinks I could see him, with his faith- 
ful crew — but himself the only one whose faith did 
not falter in the end — sailing hopefully onward in 
the direction of the setting sun. 

Methinks I could see that ocean now, with its 
countless white hillocks of foam, like the froth of 
anger, dancing on its vast surface, where no creation 
of human hands had ever ventured before ; where 
the voices of the waves and the wail of the winds 
commingled with the sharp napping of those intrusive 
sails. Methinks I could see the astonished porpoises, 
and spirting black-fish, and flitting sea-gulls bewil- 
dered and amazed at the little jauntily-rigged mon- 
ster that was crowding its way before the breeze, 
where the silvery light of the moon, and the merry 
twinkle of the stars, and the bright radiance of 
the sun had never before shone on any solid frag- 
ment. There was no smoke-stack on that vessel, 
leaving a long, black cloud in its wake, like the 
tail of a comet — if comets 1 tails were black and 
formed of soot. There was no screw under the dark 
hull of that ship, the rotary motion of whose spiral 
flanks could have propelled it forward, like those of 
modern days ; no side- wheels, making their steady 
revolutions in the direction of the unknown shore. 
There were no Cunard, or Inman, or Transatlantic 
lines of ocean palaces then ; and the little world of 
people who floated under the direction of Columbus 
and the winds could have no daily hope of saluting 
another stray world of similar character during the 



36 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

whole period of their voyage. Things have greatly 
changed since then. Your vessel now cleaves through 
the water like a thing of life, — puffing, groaning, 
rolling, and pitching, grumbling and grinding and 
trembling and vibrating in every fibre of its timbers ; 
and the hand-maidens of human ingenuity — steam, 
and improved marine architecture — have given us the 
possibility to traverse the ocean in a miraculously 
short space of time, and under the auspices of com- 
parative pleasure. 

What a thing is an ocean steamer ! It constitutes 
a small world in itself ; and when I saw the sun set 
right behind our rudder, and rise again, in the morn- 
ing, directly in front of the prow, I beheld, indeed, 
that this little world observed the system of the 
planets, and floated along its own true orbit. It was 
isolated from all other worlds by a universe of water 
— a small satellite of the earth ; and though we were 
repelled from it at New York, yet in accordance with 
the beautiful harmony of all things, we were gra- 
ciously attracted again at Havre ; nor did we induce 
the faintest manner of an earthquake by the collision. 
Yet I should do our ship an injustice if I omitted to 
say, that it was also a huge churn ; and the manner 
of, and the extent to which we were churned was at 
first negatively visible by the few who represented 
our small community at the table during meal-times. 
Having had great experience, the first few days, of 
the melancholy effect of this churning, I could grow 
philosophical, nay, eloquent on the subject ; but I pre- 
fer not to ; yet I solemnly avow, that it detracts very 
materially from the romance of a voyage across the 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 37 

Atlantic. It is not likely that I am misunderstood 
— I allude most respectfully to the infinitely unpoeti- 
cal subject of sea-sickness. Yet we had fair weather, 
with the exception of one day, when it rained, nauti- 
cally speaking,, cats and dogs, and sandwiched us 
between two 'sheets of the same element. Neverthe- 
less, without any wind or apparent cause, the sea 
was intensely agitated for a period of three days, 
tossing us about in a playful manner like a mere 
chip ; but like a chip, too, that would remain and 
dance about in derisive dalliance upon the surface. 
' The captain's explanation was, that it came from the 
north — blamed Canada and Greenland for it — and 
said, he was " veree much sorree, because it decom- 
mode ze passengers von great deal." 

The enginery of an ocean steamer ! what a noble 
theme it is for reflection! What a grand sight to 
watch its regular and ceaseless labors — to count the 
fifteen revolutions which the wheels make every 
minute — never caught napping, never fatigued; but 
sometimes warming up so exceedingly by their work, 
that a stream of cold water must be kept playing 
upon their journals, to keep them from igniting the 
contiguous wood-work. What an intricate multi- 
plicity of wheels, and levers, and cylinders, pistons, 
gauges, and valves ; and yet how harmoniously they 
all work together ! They constitute the life, the 
heart that advance a ship in its motion, and make it 
pulsate in every plank of its construction. But like 
animal life, this motion is kept up only by combus- 
tion ; and as an interesting item to all who have the 
prosperity of tjie coal trade at heart, it may be men- 



38 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

tioned, that an ocean steamer consumes some eighty 
tons of coal daily ; and ours had stored, before we 
sailed, about eighteen hundred tons. 

We have had on board a melange of all sorts of 
people, from almost all habitable parts ; from Cali- 
fornia, South America, Canada, Cuba, the different 
countries of Europe, and some from the Eastern, 
Western, Northern and Southern States of our own 
country. There were among us a number of celeb- 
rities in the arts and sciences, several congressmen, 
and any number of gentlemen with high-sounding 
military titles, which some had acquired in the 
union and some in the rebel service. The gentle 
sex was well rej resented, at the head of which was 
the charming and accomplished young wife of a 
United States senator, and the daughter of one of 
our ablest statesmen. We had a little sprinkling of 
romance, too, that is quite worthy of being recorded. 
The second day of our voyage, the weather being 
perfectly delightful, of course everybody who was 
not sick was on deck ; and there was the beginning 
of that social recognition of each other, and exchange 
of politeness, which grew into familiarity, and ter- 
minated, in many instances, in doubtless long and 
lasting friendship. Suddenly a tall and handsome 
gentleman was observed confronting a beautiful 
young German girl, whom he scrutinized closely for 
a few moments, and then exclaimed, " Good heavens! 
is this possible, Theresa? " Thus accosted, the young 
lady started, and riveting her attention upon him 
who had pronounced these words, she appeared to 
recognize him at once. Her cheeks became pallid 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 39 

with emotion, and with the ringing exclamation. 
" Heinrich, my brother ! " she rushed into his arms 
in the most beautifully theatrical style imaginable. 
Really it was quite affecting. The explanation is 
briefly this : the young girl was one whom the lady 
of the senator before alluded to, and who had visited 
Europe last year, had chosen for a friend and com- 
panion during her travels in France, Switzerland and 
Germany, and had prevailed upon her to accompany 
her to America in the fall, on condition of returning 
with her to Europe this Spring. The gentleman, 
who was her brother, had left home for South America 
some five years ago, where he had been sent as a civil 
engineer, to superintend the construction of a rail- 
road. Thence he had come to the United States, and 
was now on his way back to Europe. Neither knew 
aught of the other's whereabouts. They had been 
orphans for many years, but were apparently of good 
family, and had enjoyed the advantage of an excel- 
lent education ; and both were possessed of an ad- 
venturous turn of mind. I learned these particulars 
from the parties themselves, with whom I subse- 
quently became right intimately acquainted ; they 
being from my own native country, namely, Hanover. 
Carme, the French billiard-player of great fame, 
who caroms on two balls around a hat placed between 
them on the table, or on two balls placed on two 
different tables, was among the number of our pas- 
sengers, and was quite a lion. Speaking of lions 
reminds me that there was another celebrity on board 
in the individuality of a bear ; not the Wall Street 
article, but a real, genuine, quadrupedal, North 



40 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

American black bear. A superscription on bis cage 
sbowed fortb tbat be was in care of tbe American 
Express Company, and sent by a gentleman from 
Ogdensburg, New York, to Monsieur le Compte 
Lubersal, of Paris. What tbe Count intends to do 
witb this unique pet is not specified ; perbaps be 
wants to " render " bim, scent bim witb bergamot, 
and use bim for a toilet article. At any rate, among 
bis fellow-passengers be was tbe observed of all ob- 
servers ; tbe ladies daily amused tbemselves in feed- 
ing bim witb dainties ; and, " bow does tbe bear do 
tbis morning?" was tbeir general matutinal concern. 
Tbe cook baked little cakes for bim ; what be called 
tbese I do not know, but am quite sure tbat they 
were not " lady-fingers." At first Bruin was sea-sick 
for a while, but recovered after a few days, like the 
rest of us, and greeted us occasionally with a familiar 
and friendly growl that was quite refreshing on such 
a wilderness of water. 

All manner of amusements is resorted to on board 
ship u 2 )0ur passer le temps" the chief one, among 
gentlemen, being a game called "Tonneau;" which 
is a species of quoit-pitching with pewter quoits, 
about the size of a twenty-dollar gold-piece, (should 
any of my readers still retain a dim recollection of 
that size,) the object being to pitch them into the 
gaping mouth of a cast-iron frog, perched upon a box 
containing holes that represent different numbers, 
into one of which tbe frog drops the quoit ; the game 
affords considerable sport. Then there is all manner 
of card-playing, chess, dominos, draughts, back- 
gammon, &c. There was a great deal of playing for 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 41 

money, too; but fortunately all the participants so 
" mutually excelled each, other," that none had lost 
or won to any extent at the end of our voyage. A 
small musical coterie enjoyed themselves greatly every 
evening in the ladies' saloon, which contained a fine 
piano. One of the gentlemen on board was an excel- 
lent performer ; and the German lady, who met her 
brother so strangely, has a rich soprano voice, and 
sang for us enchantingly. Thus we had gems from 
Trovatore, Ernani, Traviata, and many other sterling 
operas ; and on one occasion we had nearly the whole 
of the Bohemian Girl performed — without, of course, 
the acting and stage accessories. 

Events on board a steamer do not always transpire 
in an uninterrupted course of serene dignity ; on the 
contrary, a "life on the ocean wave " has its ludicrous 
phases also, that offer a pleasing contrast to the tire- 
some monotony which would otherwise prevail even 
during so short a period as a ten days' voyage. 
"Wrapt up in your comfortable coat and shawls, you 
seat yourself languidly on an extension camp-chair, 
by the side of the officer at the compass, or promenade 
over a zigzag path up and down the quarter deck. 
Ignorant land-lubbers might think that you were a 
little muddled in the head ; but it is not that — the 
defect is in the legs, whose sea-faring steadiness has 
not yet been developed. Perhaps you descend into 
the saloon, that is gorgeously fitted up and has the 
appearance of a first-class gambling establishment ; 
directly you become an active member of the scene 
by joining some of your companions in a rubber of 
whist, or a game of chess. Presently the tableau 



42 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

changes : dinner is served ; you are seated at one of 
the long tables ; stewards and sub-stewards flit back- 
ward and forward, loaded with britannia-ware and 
bright silvery dishes, preserving a wonderful degree 
of steadiness under the circumstances. Suddenly the 
ship gives a lurch ; and the cups and saucers, the 
platters and soup-tureens become extremely lively, 
and dance a jig to the music of their own clatter. 
Away goes a cruet of milk — and such milk I — into 
the ham and eggs; the coffee-pot upsets, and floods 
the leg of mutton with its savory contents, making a 
delicious gravy that can only be appreciated by those 
who have tasted it. While you look aghast at the 
lump of butter that has cosily nestled itself into your 
lap, the molasses-jug makes a sudden dart, and falling 
off the table, descends into and sweetens the lining 
of your neighbor's silk hat, that is standing on the 
floor ; the potatoes roll about the table in a mad 
career of recklessness, as though they were engaged 
at billiards, and carom on each other and on every 
article of diet in their way. But — you don't feel 
very well — there 's something wrong inside — an in- 
testine commotion ; yet you want to brave the lion 
in his den, and you go into the smoking-room. There 
you peer, as well as you may, through the thick 
volume of tobacco fume, and behold the dim outlines 
of some twenty of your comrades, like jolly spectres, 
that smoke and examine the ceiling through the 
bottoms of tumblers. Perhaps it is a French smok- 
ing-room ; a polite gar con, observing your icry face, 
approaches you with — " Desirez-vous quelque chose, 
monsieur f " " Oui, donnez-moi un cigar." " Ne voulez- 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 43 

vous pas manger, monsieur?" " Du tout! du tout! au 
contraire,je voudrais bien boire. Donnez-moi du cognac 
— ah! parbleu! du cognac." But perhaps the spectres 
are taking;; their flight to Hamburg; or Bremen, and 
there is great yearning among them for lager-beer, 
Schweitzer-kase, pretzeln, and other Teutonic ele- 
ments, but which I find are not too tonic to enter into 
the American constitution. Ah I but they are on 
one of the good ships of the Inman line — these spec- 
tres of the jolly smoking-room. One by one they 
approach the jolly panel of the partition that 
separates them from the treasures of the bar-room ; 
the panel opens, like the door in the cave of the 
Forty Thieves, and — " A glars of Hallsops hale, hand 
another of Arf and Arf, hand be blarsted quick about 
it ! " says the jolly spectre. 

Evening is growing apace, and the saloon being 
brilliantly lighted, let us enter there, and be seated 
with the rest of the ladies and gentlemen. The piano 
is at the aft end of the apartment ; and the beautiful 
and accomplished Miss Smith, after much persuasion 
from the part of our sea-faring audience, consents to 
play, and sings — " Believe me, if all those endearing 
young charms," or rattles away, on mid-ocean, "The 
Caliph of Bagdad ; " breaks out hysterically with 
" Listen to the Mocking-bird I " then falls back on 
"Coming through the Rye," with variations, "We 
won't go home till morning," and other touching 
and appropriate melodies. Then there is little Willie 
Jones, just twelve years old, who plays on the violin, 
and sings with that sweet voice of his: — 



44 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

"For she was beautiful as a butterfly, 
And as proud as a queen, 
Was pretty little Polly Perkins, 
Of Paddington Green, " — 

with all the passengers joining in the chorus, and 
making the ship vocal with melody, like the woods 
at Camp-meetings. Then Collins (who on the last 
day of the voyage fell and broke three ribs, poor 
fellow!) like a troubadour of the marine corps, 
accompanies himself with the most exquisite touch 
on his guitar to the sublime words of 

" Come, sit thee down, my bonnie, bonnie lass, 
Come sit thee down by me, 
And I will tell thee many a tale 
Of the dangers of the sea." 

Although, as was said, our passenger list was com- 
posed of people from nearly all parts of the world, 
yet the prevailing tone of society on board was ex- 
ceedingly French. The captain and entire crew, and 
fully one half of the passengers were French ; the 
rules and regulations, and manners, and cooking, 
were all French ; and the language that was spoken 
was almost exclusively French, either natural or ac- 
quired. In reference to this language, I overheard a 
conversation in English that disgusted me very much 
with the morals of " la belle France." It was between 
a Frenchman who spoke but indifferent English, and 
an American. The latter expressed his hope of being 
able to acquire the French language during his sojourn 
at Paris. " Zat depend upon whezzer you are married 
or zingal," said the Frenchman. " I am married,' 1 
replied the American. " Ah ! mon Dieu ! zat is von 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 45 

great pittee ! " returned the Frenchman, " hecause ze 
bachelors learn ze French much quicker in Paris zan 
ze married man;" then the wretch added, — "but il 
faut avoir von dam had memory — you must forget 
zat you are married." For the credit of the American 
I will say, that he appeared to he greatly shocked by 
this advice, and the conversation was discontinued. 

And now — it is Sabbath morning. We glide 
along at the rate of thirteen knots an hour ; nothing 
in sight, save the clear blue sky above, and the vast 
expanse of water all around. The bell on the fore- 
deck tolls for divine service ; and suddenly the ship 
is converted into a floating church. By degrees most 
of the sailors, attired in clean blue blouses, loose neck- 
ties, and jaunty flowing trowsers, as well as many of 
the passengers, congregate in the cabin, where the 
Captain, in full uniform, reads the morning service 
right impressively, for a brave sea-captain that he is ; 
whilst a choir that is improvised for the occasion 
from the passengers acquits itself very creditably 
indeed. 

To me worship to the Divine Author, held thus 
upon mid-ocean, is full of sublimity and solemn im- 
pressiveness, and I have seen many of the members 
of such a congregation moved with great, and doubt- 
less heartfelt, emotion. 

Arrived at Havre, we had but little trouble in 
debarking, and proceeding to the railway station to 
be in time for the next train for Paris. The much- 
dreaded annoyance from custom officers was scarcely 
worth mentioning. Many trunks were not opened, 
but their owners simply asked, whether they had any 



46 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

tobacco or cigars ; those articles being a source of 
government revenue, are very strictly prohibited; 
not more than half a pound of the former, and fifty 
pieces of the latter being permitted to pass into 
France free of duty. 

Who may describe the impressions that are awak- 
ened at the first sight of, and upon first placing foot 
on a foreign land? I may as well allude to myself, 
and say it out, that it had been the dream of my boy- 
hood, and the ambition of my riper years, to be able 
one day to visit that historic land ; and here I was — 
body and soul — with the whole of Europe lying bare 
before me at last. Here was altogether another sec- 
tion of the world ; and, strange to say, it appeared to 
have all the elements and attributes of our own 
country. Here was ground like our own ; sand and 
gravel and dust like our own ; pebbles and stones and 
rocks like our own ; hills and valleys and plains like 
our own ; rivers and trees and houses, for all the 
world, just as natural and life-like as though they 
had been in the blessed United States themselves. 
The people were neither giants nor dwarfs ; but 
middling-sized, nice-looking creatures like ourselves, 
dressed in strict conformity with the manifold com- 
plications of fashion ; — the lordlings and great folks 
of society being no more precise in the suitableness 
of their attires than the hod-carriers and chimney- 
sweeps in theirs. 

Thus, then, in general features, there was nothing 
in my first glimpse at Europe to surprise me, except 
in its resemblance to the surface of things that I had 
been accustomed to heretofore in our own country. 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGE. 47 

Nevertheless, in the details of that first day's life 
beyond the sea, there were many little incidents, 
trivial, it is trne, that yet stamped themselves indel- 
ibly upon my memory. Among these was my first 
meal ; I recollect every item of it : it was in a restau- 
rant near the railroad depot, in the city of Havre, 
just previous to my departure for Paris, and con- 
sisted of bread and butter, oysters, sardines, and half 
a bottle of Medoc. The bread and butter was good ; 
the sardines were good; the oysters were good, too, 
that is to say, they were good for nothing ; and the 
wine — but stay 1 It is the general presumption in 
our own country, that the wines of Continental Eu- 
rope so immeasurably transcend everything that we 
are accustomed to drinking, that the first mouthful 
might be supposed to beatify the brain, and captivate 
all the senses with its unspeakable deliciousness. 
Now, although the difference, especially to the palate, 
is not quite so great as all this, yet it may be safely 
asserted, that, whatever the cause may be, the effect 
of wine-drinking in Europe is not nearly so disagree- 
able as in America, — and, I may add, that when the 
half bottle of Medoc alluded to was drank out, it was 
empty — quite empty ; there was no logwood or red 
sanders in the bottom of it. But let it not be un- 
derstood that I emptied the half bottle myself — oh, 
no I I had an American friend with me, who was 
such a good-natured, whole-souled, congenial, and 
easily-pleased fellow, that he liked everything I did ; 
was hungry, thirsty, and sleepy whenever I was ; and 
was forever seeing the same sights, and going to the 
same places, at the same time with myself. 



48 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Another of those little things that made a strong 
impression npon my mind, was the great politeness 
that I experienced from all the railroad officials dur- 
ing that first ride in the Old World. The railway 
system of Europe has been so frequently described, 
that I will not dwell on the subject, but simply add 
my unqualified testimony to the many others who 
have preceded me, of its great superiority over our 
own. The comfort of their coupes far exceeds that 
of our long cars, and a choleric person, like one I 
wot of, can get his ticket, procure his seat, ride all 
day, and ask as many questions as his ignorance sug- 
gests, without being snubbed to death by every mis- 
erable little official, from the president to the brakes- 
man, as is so frequently the case in our own country. 
The fare, however, for travelling on the railroads is 
somewhat higher here than in the United States, 
though there is a material difference between the 
prices of the first and second class cars, yet so little 
in the comforts and conveniences of the two, that 
hardly any persons but those belonging to the nobility 
ever ride in the first class ; the extra charge being 
due to the exclusiveness of aristocratic souls and 
long purses. By giving the conductor a trifle, how- 
ever, wherewith he can procure some choice beverage 
to quench his thirst, one may frequently secure the 
half, if not the entire whole, of the interior of a 
coach to one's self; an arrangement that is especially 
agreeable at night, when one may extend himself at 
full length on the lap of Morpheus — or, rather, if 
you will be particular about it, on one of the seats 
that are as pleasant to lie upon as a softly uphol- 
stered sofa. 



REFLECTIONS ON A SEA-VOYAGLE. 49 

We left Havre at twenty minutes past two in the 
afternoon, and journeyed through a country whose 
picturesque beauty, natural magnificence, and high 
state of cultivation, certainly eclipsed anything that 
one can conceive who has not seen it ; and the scru- 
pulous economy that is observed in the culture of the 
soil is, to an extent, almost amusing to an American, 
not a square foot being permitted to go to waste ; 
and I could not help wondering how horrified these 
people would be, if they saw some of our worm- 
fences, and the band of six or eight feet of soil which 
they barricade against the plough. Indeed, the tract 
through which we passed appeared more like a vast 
and continuous garden and pleasure-ground, similar 
to the Central Park of New York, than ordinarv 
farming country. 

At last, when it was ten o'clock in the evening, we 
entered Paris. The moon was just full, and from a 
clear limpid sky was shedding its mellow radiance 
over our blessed earth, as it had shone at Pottsville, 
as it had shone also on mid-ocean, and was shining 
now on the two million inhabitants of this vast me- 
tropolis. 

Paris ! what historical recollections the name re- 
calls ! The city whose populace periodically breaks 
out into furious effervescence, like a living Vesuvius — 
whose great record consists of barricades — the guil- 
lotine — the Bastile I Well, I am not prepossessed 
in your favor ; but " nous verrons" 



LETTER II. 
PARIS. 

FLITTING ABOUT PARIS. — ITS GENERAL APPEARANCE.— 
THE JARDIN DES PL ANTES. — ITS NATURAL CURIOSITIES, 
AND WORKS OF ART.— VISIT TO THE CATHEDRAL OF 
NOTRE DAME. — PLACE VENDOME. — ASCENT OF THE 
COLUMN NAPOLEON THE FIRST — HOW THE SABBATH IS 
OBSERVED IN PARIS.— THE FRENCH SERVANTS, HACK- 
MEN, &c — THE OPERA. 

Paris, April, 1867. 

SO much has been written about Paris that one 
feels a natural hesitation in approaching the sub- 
ject at all. Yet it is one so inexhaustible and ever 
varying, — one that exercises an influence over the 
whole civilized world, — so brilliant in its good, and 
so repulsive in its bad features, that the impressions 
which it induces, and which are as diversified as the 
theme is Promethean in character, may be recorded 
now, and by many writers hereafter, without danger 
of drifting entirely into trite and worn-out thoughts. 
And if I endeavor to describe what I see after my 
own fashion, and in accordance with my own feel- 
ings, without any reference whatever to what has 
been written before, it is hoped that the little egotism 
may be overlooked, and the true object — the desire 
to please — alone kept in view. 

The day after my arrival here, I engaged a hack 
and had myself conducted through many of the most 
important thoroughfares of the city, bestowing a 

(50) 



PARIS. 51 

cursory glance upon many objects of interest, and 
accustoming my eyes once more to other things than 
the great, unsteady immensity of water over which 
I had just passed. 

The first thing that attracts the attention of almost 
every one is the great cleanness of the streets of Paris, 
in which respect it surpasses by far any city that I 
have ever known. In many of the boulevards and 
other principal thoroughfares, one half of them is 
paved with cobblestones, and the other half, running 
along lengthways, is macadamized by a cement whose 
hardness is almost indestructible. The latter side of 
these streets is for carriages and all manner of light 
vehicles, which run over it almost noiselessly, and as 
easily as over the most perfect plank-road ; but it is 
not practicable for heavy teams, as the exceedingly 
smooth surface yields no hold to the horses' feet, 
which in pulling at great loads would constantly 
glide out. The paved portion on the other side 
affords a good grappling for all heavy -draught 
animals, and is therefore appropriated to purposes of 
heavy transportation. Every real-estate proprietor is 
obliged by law to have the street and sidewalk in 
front of his own premises swept clean every morning, 
after which the refuse is taken away by means of so 
great a number of carts, that but a short time is 
necessary to complete the process. 

The houses have a somewhat old and dingy look, 
even on the boulevards, where all the buildings have 
in every other respect a magnificence of style and 
palatial proportions. This faded appearance can only 
be owing to the character of the material that is used 



52 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

in their construction ; namely, a kind of grayish, 
cirab-colored stone, and bricks of pretty much the 
same hue. One misses very decidedly the cheerful 
red bricks, white marble, or rich, brown sandstone 
of New York and Philadelphia. Notwithstanding 
all this there is but little doubt, that of all the great 
cities of the world, the most beautiful and perfect 
specimen is Paris. You have here a gathering of 
nearly two million human beings housed away in 
systematic order, wherein beauty, comfort, and 
grandeur are harmoniously blended ; and where 
obedience to the laws of the powers that be is as 
tacitly observed as in a hive of bees. It is indeed a 
pleasure to wander along its principal avenues, whose 
sidewalks, from ten to twenty feet wide, are almost 
continuously sheltered from the sun or falling weather 
by awnings ; under which, especially in front of the 
numerous cafes and restaurants, are placed chairs and 
marble-covered tables, where the great world of Paris 
congregate to eat, drink, and smoke, and read the 
daily journals ; but most of all to chat, laugh, and 
indulge in impromptu and miscellaneous merriment ; 
or, perhaps, to hatch out the details of those social 
and political intrigues — those little affairs of the 
heart or of the brain, which send their fascinations 
all the world over, and envelop this fair city with a 
strange and peculiar charm. How grand are the 
long lines of high palaces, built in picturesque ir- 
regularity, that skirt both sides of these hundreds of 
pleasant streets, and are decorated with show-windows 
that display the very superexcellencies of ornamental 
art! — flaunting their trinkets and jewelry; their 



PARIS. 53 

beautiful, patent-leather, high-heeled gaiters ; their 
divine, raven chignons and auburn curls ; their india- 
rubber proxies for nonexistent portions of the human 
frame ; their corsets, marked Ko. 17 — God help the 
poor things doomed to wear them ! — their glass eyes, 
and pearly, gold-mounted teeth ; their ribbons, and 
silks, and broadcloth ; shawls, dresses, and coats ; 
tippets, and capes, and muffs, of otter, mink, and 
Russian sables ; their tulles and point laces, satins 
and moire-antiques ; their cashmeres from India and 
cashmeres from Paris ; and oh ! their ravishing little 
bonnets and hats, with feathers from pigeons, orioles, 
birds of Paradise, Chinese pheasants, ostriches, par- 
rots, and peacocks ! Yes, these and a thousand other 
little nameless things fill the windows for miles as 
you pass along the streets, and exert a marvellous 
attractiveness upon the gay throng of pedestrians, 
that are eternally migrating up and down, to admire 
and be admired in turn. 

Aye, to be sure, it is here where you may see 
young gentlemen and ladies in their full glory ! The 
former with unexceptionable well-waxed moustachios 
and imperials, fashionable hats, Bismarck-colored 
trowsers, and noses saddled with oracular eye-glasses. 
Even thus they may be seen, these sweet-scented, per- 
ishable Parisian exquisites, leading a " Divine creat- 
chaw," in gorgeous array, like Villikins and his Di- 
nah, on the one side, and a King Charles lap-dog by a 
pink ribbon on the other ; and my American friend 
soon discovered, with his customary shrewdness of 
observation, that, as a general thing, the two poodles 
— one at each end of the ribbon — were distinguish- 



54 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

able from each, other only by the difference in their 
size. 

The striking architectural feature that distin- 
guishes this from our American cities, is the beauti- 
ful sculpture which everywhere embellishes the pub- 
lic and private buildings, columns, monuments, and 
triumphal arches. Indeed, it is impossible to con- 
ceive how a rising generation could grow up in igno- 
rance amidst all the associations of a city like this, 
that appears like a vast school, in which object-teach- 
ing is the adopted method. The history not only of 
France, but in a great measure of all Europe, is 
graphically delineated in statuary, paintings and 
architecture everywhere. And in the Jardin cles 
Plantes, amidst all the surroundings of the zoological, 
geological, and botanical departments, there is an 
amphitheatre in which free courses of lectures by the 
most eminent savans of France, on natural history 
and the different sciences, are held. Thus an educa- 
tion is rendered possible to every individual that 
desires it. 

Not to skip over the beautiful subject of the Jar- 
din des Plantes too hurriedly, let me here make the 
unqualified assertion, that to one who has helped to 
enrich the treasury of Van Amburg's menagerie with 
frequr at quarter dollars, it is peculiarly gratifying to 
visit the numerous animals, reptiles, and birds that 
are here displayed in all their strength, beauty, and 
glory, "free, gratis, for nothing." Here we have 
every variety of animated nature, from the elephant 
to the chameleon, from the ostrich to the charming 
little butterfly. The wild animals are in cages, built 



PARIS. 55 

very, massively of stone, with strong iron gratings on 
one side to permit of their inspection, and sufficiently 
roomy for the animals within to he comfortable and 
display their qualities. I saw an immense grizzly 
bear walk about on his hinu-legs, erect, like a huge 
giant, and measuring in that position some eight feet 
or more. The museum of comparative anatomy that 
is situated in this garden is truly wonderful, and 
said to be the greatest collection of the kind in the 
world. Here an anxious student has infinite ojDpor- 
tunities for storing his mind with useful knowledge, 
whilst he cannot but be filled with wonder and admi- 
ration at the niceties of created things, which he can 
here examine in detail. There is also a geological 
museum that is quite monstrous in proportions, and 
to which I have not failed to contribute my mite, by 
presenting its superintendent with a few specimens 
from Schuylkill County ; among which a small but 
rich piece of black band was pre-eminently the most 
interesting. It is impossible to convey any idea of 
the beauty of some of the mosaic work contained in 
this museum ; among which there is a Madonna, 
equal in naturalness, color, and expression to the most 
finished paintings. Gold and precious stones, even 
diamonds, are displayed here in most gorgeous pro- 
fusion, with substances of baser caste. Attached to 
this building is the botanical museum, wherein are 
contained specimens of woods, barks, leaves, seeds, 
&c, of all known plants. 

One of the most interesting places to visit in this 
city is the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Accordingly I 
went there last Sunday morning, and it being Easter 



56 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Sunday, the ceremonies and music* were more than 
ordinarily grand and impressive. I ascended one of 
the towers, from which an excellent view may be had 
of the whole city. While I was up there, they 
tolled the ponderous hell, it being the hour for high 
mass, and as access to the dome where the bell is sus- 
pended was permitted, I availed myself of the unique 
opportunity, and stood directly under it while it was 
in full swing. It is easily to be imagined, that the 
reverberating noise in such a position, amid the ex- 
tensive scaffolding and tressel-work of that iron-clad 
cupola, must have been perfectly deafening. It still 
continued swinging, like a huge pendulum in a mon- 
strous clock, long after the men ceased their manip- 
ulation of the levers ; and its tones grew fainter and 
shaver by degrees, dying out at last in an agony of 
vibration. 

Notre Dame has been so much written about, that 
I shall say nothing more on the subject, except that 
it inspired me with a feeling of awe and veneration 
as I stood within its hallowed precincts, listening to 
the deep-toned organ, which is 45 feet in height, 36 
in breadth, and contains 3,484 pipes. Yes, as the 
solemn music resounded tremulously throughout the 
naves, and aisles, and passages of that spacious edi- 
fice — in view, too, of those old scriptural representa- 
tions in bas-relief all over the walls and side chapels, 
some of which were mutilated by the mob in the ter- 
rible times of the French Revolution, and " Liberty, 
Fraternity, Equality "chiselled into the outside stones 
of the sacred pile — where those words, though 
partially effaced, are still visible — when the great 



PARIS. 57 

national creed was : " Death is an eternal sleep ! " 
With all these associations passing like a panorama 
before the mind's eye, it filled me with emotion of no 
common order. 

After leaving Notre Dame, I proceeded to Place 
Vendome, and ascended the high column that was 
there erected by Napoleon I., to commemorate the 
success of his arms in the German campaign of 1805. 
This column is 135 feet high, and only 12 in diameter, 
and is built in imitation of the pillar of Trajan at 
Rome, but on a somewhat larger scale. The whole 
pedestal and shaft are covered with bronze bas-reliefs, 
cast out of the cannon taken from the enemy. These 
bas-reliefs represent the progress and principal actions 
of the French army from the departure from Bou- 
logne to the Battle of Austerlitz. The entrance to 
the interior of the column was guarded by a sentinel, 
an old soldier who had served with Napoleon at Mos- 
cow, and constituted one of his few attendants at St. 
Helena, — a proud old man, who seems more con- 
tent now in having served under the great Napoleon, 
than Napoleon himself was while commanding the 
destinies of nations. He gave my American friend 
and myself a lantern, and together we ascended the 
high shaft. The spiral staircase was very narrow 
and tortuous, and my friend graphically remarked 
that it was like walking up a big corkscrew. Once 
on the top, the little breath left us was almost taken 
away on looking down the thin, long pillar, as it 
seemed ; and one felt an instinctive fear of getting 
too near the railing that protects the platform, lest 
the whole concern might lose its balance and topple 



58 ACE OSS THE A TL AN TIC. 

over. The view of the city, however, is very fair 
from this point, commanding a bird's-eye glance over 
the finest portions of Paris : only the root's oi' the 
houses present a comic and lndierons appearance, 

looking so very old and smoky, and being sprinkled 
over with such innumerable little, round chimneys, 
as though the city might have been blessed some cen- 
turies ago with a right smart shower oi' earthenware 
crockery, leaving the unharmed pots perched about 
in indiscriminate disorder. Then the general surface 
of the roofs is so excessively uneven : for every here 
and there is a low and Bquat dwelling between two 
tall and slender ones of live or six stories in height ; 
whereof the general effect upon the eye is exceed- 
ingly amusing. 

It will be recollected that it was Sunday when I 
ascended the column of Vendome, — not that it was 
particularly wicked to do a thing of that kind on 
the Sabbath, but it might have been — and much 
worse things are done on that day, for, to tell the 
truth, there is so little difference here between Sun- 
day and other days, that it is difficult to keep the 
run of them, without referring to the heading of the 
morning papers — especially when one has no notes 
payable at the bank to come due. In general ap- 
pearance on the streets; if there is any difference at 
all between Sundays and week-days, it is that on the 
former it is a little more lively, business a shade 
brisker, the caf^s and restaurants a trifle fuller, and 
that the theatres offer two performances instead of 
one. Besides this, there are more of the prominent 
public places and palaces open to the people on this 



PARIS. 59 

day than on any other. To those, as a general thing, 
admission is free; but in a Dumber of them a polite 
Frenchman is stationed at the entrance, who insists 
upon taking care of one's cane or umbrella for the 

consideration of a few sous ; and as tfifi weather here 
is bo capricious that the carrying of an umbrella is 
almost a constant necessity — and every Frenchman 
always has one in his hand or under his arm — why, 
one manages to get rid of his loose change. 

Decidedly a blessing to the stranger in Paris are 
the public hacks, in which one can ride by the hour 
OT -ingle trip for a very moderate price. The drivers 
are kept under strict discipline, and no such thing as 
gouging or overcharging a passenger is tolerated. 
Generally, too, they are well informed, and if one is 
at all conversant with the French language, they will 
suffice as guides. I have had one of them conduct 
me in a very comfortable carriage, over many p>arts of 
the city, explaining the points of interest to me, dur- 
ing a period of five hours, and the whole expense only 
amounted to about two dollars and a half. Another 
great feature here is the thorough manner in which 
one is attended by the servants. It is true, they ex- 
pect a great many "pourboires" (small fees,) but they 
are so very willing and cheerful, and polite withal, 
that it is impossible not to be pleased, or to recollect 
the slight inconvenience of the pour boire. You have 
them standing behind you, subject to the slightest 
nod, dressed up in black pants, dress-coat, white 
Marseilles vest, cravat of the same color, and, in 
some instances, white gloves also. So that, take it 
all in all, they are much more regardlessly gotten up 



60 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

than the generality of guests ; and one almost feels 
like rising, and with a profound bow addressing 
their servant ships with, " Really, monsieur, if it 
is n't putting you to too much trouble, you might 
be kind enough to bring me a plate of cheval roti a la 
mode." 

To-day, as I was walking down the boulevard des 
Italiens, I saw a gentleman black another gentleman's 
boots. Let me not be misunderstood: if "God 
makes the man, and the tailor the gentleman," then 
he who did this boot-blacking was a gentleman ; 
for he was dressed neatly ; had a nice, clean, well- 
starched and ironed blue blouse upon him ; a mous- 
tache that was unequalled except by the dear little 
tuft of hair on his chin, and he was smoking a ciga- 
rette, and chatting familiarly with him whose boots 
he was polishing. 

Last night I witnessed the representation of the 
opera of Don Carlos — the music by Yerdi. It abounds 
with many passages of that brilliant style of music 
for which Verdi's compositions are so deservedly 
popular ; still it lacks the beautiful and touching 
melodies that give such a charm to II Trovatore ; 
and for my part, I much prefer hearing an opera 
sung in Italian or German, — and this was in French. 
The scenic production of the opera was remarkably 
fine, and in the third act there was a ballet-dance 
of about one hundred damsels . representing naiads, 
that was certainly the grandest thing of the kind 
I have ever witnessed. At the Chatelet, the largest 
theatre in the city, they are nightly perf rming a 
grand spectacular dramatization of Cindera.la, which 



PARIS. 61 

is somewhat similar to the Black Crook as it is per- 
formed at New York. Indeed, I find that perform- 
ances of such a character are very much the rage 
here, and what has shocked the sense of refinement 
of so many Americans in the representation of the 
Black Crook is here looked upon as quite a natural 
affair. At the theatre Palais Royale they have been 
playing La Vie Parisienne, which must be seen and 
understood to be appreciated. It abounds in local 
hits, and delineates the manner in which foreigners 
are taken in by the wily Parisians. 



*• 



LETTER III. 

THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 

THE GRAND EXPOSITION, — IT IS A SUCCESS.— THE UNITED 
ST A TES COM PAR A TIVEL YPOORL Y REPRESENTED.— WHA T 
IT HAS ON EXHIBITION IS MUCH ADMIRED.— THE MAXU 
FACTURING DEPARTMENT.— SALOONS OF DIFFERENT NA- 
TIONS. — NE W A ME RICA N IN VENTIONS. — THE NO TA B IL I- 
TIES WHO VISIT THE EXPOSITION— WORKS OF ART DIS- 
PLAYED.— AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.— COST OF LIV- 
ING IN PARIS. 

Paris, May, 1867. 

THE Grand Exposition, although formally opened 
to the public more than a month ago, is. still 
unfinished ; nor will it be entirely complete for two 
or three weeks to come. Nevertheless, it is gorgeous 
and immense, almost beyond description ; and those 
who have predicted that it would be a failure, have 
been greatly in error. It cannot, therefore, be other 
than a source of regret to every American who visits 
it, to see his country so poorly represented, in com- 
parison with other nations, as it is. 

"When the arena of space allotted to the United 
States in the exhibition was first made known, it 
caused a deal of bombastic scolding and dissatisfac- 
tion among our editors, for not giving us more room ; 
and yet, as it is, I am sorry to say that the space is 
not entirely taken up. It is but just, however, to 
add, that what there is on exhibition from our 
country is worthy of the genius of the nation, and 

(62) 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 63 

compels the respect and admiration of all people. In 
some respects we even excite tj^e jealousy of the 
French. Thus, in the Figaro, one of the dailies of 
this city, the editor, in reference to our pianos, says, 
" Let us he a little more patriotic, and not occupy 
ourselves entirely with American pianos. They have 
qualities to which we have done homage, hut which 
should not fill us with enthusiasm to the extent of 
forgetfulness of our own." Then he tries very hard 
to extol the French instruments, hut which lose their 
identity entirely beside our magnificent Chickering's 
and Stein way's. 

A particularly interesting feature of the exhibition 
is the immense amount of beautiful machinery from 
all countries, which encircles it, and which is nearly 
all in motion ; and that, too, for some purpose ; for 
along a large section of this circle there is carried on 
the manufacture of almost all imaginable things, 
both useful and ornamental. In one department, for 
example, you can see them engaged in making gen- 
tlemen's hats, passing from the raw material through 
all the various stages unto the complete fashionable 
chapeaa. The same may be said of boots and shoes; 
and it is astonishing to see how soon a young lady — 
for much of this work is done by females — can make 
a pair of boots. At another place may be seen oper- 
atives engaged in carving all manner of fancy work 
in wood, ivory, meerschaum, and cameo ; where one 
can give them a photograph for a copy, and have an 
exact likeness engraved from it on a cameo breast- 
pin or a meerschaum pipe. In this way a great 
amount of such goods is sold to the visitors, who are 
very eager for mementos of this description. 



64 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Here also can be witnessed the manufacture of jew- 
elry, even to the .polishing and setting of diamonds. 
Also the weaving of silks, silk scarfs, beautifully 
flowered, and brochet shawls. Then there is print- 
ing, book-bindiug, the making of envelopes by ma- 
chinery, of pins and steel pens ; of playing-cards, 
and a variety of trinkets and toys ; of combs and 
buttons from bone, gutta-percha, turtle-shell, mother- 
of-pearl, &c. But it is impossible to enumerate all 
the different operations that are carried on here ; and 
crowds of people are constantly looking on and ad- 
miring the workmanship as it progresses. In fact, 
next to the picture galleries, this seems to be the 
most attractive part of the exhibition. Stay ! I 
may be in error ; for probably, the most attractive 
places are the eating-saloons and cafes that constitute 
a zone which girdles the entire bnilding ; and to 
judge from the flushed faces that issue from these 
various retreats, it may be set down as being no very 
temperate zone at that. 

Each one of these saloons has its own nationality, 
and is conducted just as it would be at home, in the 
country which it represents. Thus there is the Eng- 
lish chop-house, with the imperative round table, and 
plump, jolly-looking fellows with mutton-chop whisk- 
ers, sitting up to it, and looking unctuously happy 
in the enjoyment of their slices from the delectable 
joint of beef or mutton, imbibing deep draughts 
from the big-bellied mugs of "arf and arf;" and 
smoking fine-cut tobacco in little clay pipes with 
long stems, and red sealing-wax at their ends. Then 
there is the French cafe, with always a goodly num- 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 65 

ber of Messieurs drawing small whiffs of tobacco- 
smoke through tiny cigarettes, which they manufac- 
ture as fast as they require them — and chatter with 
fierce grimaces about Luxembourg (which they per- 
sist in calling " Lick-some-boor "), filling up the 
pauses with dainty sips at their caffe noir. The idea 
of calling such a thing coffee ! Lo, how it is made : 
a solution of gypsum for water, chickory for coffee, 
brandy for milk, and sometimes rum for sugar ! It 
is worse than an old-fashioned dose of senna-manna- 
and-salts, and would make an excellent hair-dye ; but 
as the prevailing rage just now is to have red hair, 
they cannot, unfortunately, appropriate their coffee 
to this purpose. But, to resume, there is also the 
American saloon, where men stand up to the bar, 
and drink their mint-juleps, claret-punches, brandy- 
smashes, cocktails, &c. ; but they cannot sit on high 
chairs and eat oysters ; no, it is impossible — because 
there is no " R " in the month, and very much because 
they — have n't the oysters. Then there is the Ger- 
man Wirtschaft, with its bountiful provision of Bava- 
rian beer, rye bread, and Strasburg sausage ; where a 
few heavy philosophers sit in pensive contemplation, 
and enveloped in clouds of smoke exhaled from the 
cechten Knaster. Turks, Chinese, Japanese, and all 
the other odd branches and outcroppings of the hu- 
man family have their own " ranches," and make it 
a matter of curious and gratifying import to go the 
" grand rounds," and visit them all. A Chinese the- 
atre, built after their own fashion, wherein real Chi- 
nese do the performing, is another feature that ex- 
cites considerable curiosity. The same may be said 



66 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of a band of American negro minstrels, who exhibit 
daily, and attract, I am told, crowded audiences. 

Notwithstanding what I have said of the com- 
paratively small number of contributions from the 
United States, and in spite of all the delay in the 
completion of its department, there are presented 
many attractions that are well worthy of notice. 
Near the American locomotives, which, of course, 
cannot be excelled, may be seen the life-saving raft, 
an invention of Mr. Perry, which is rapidly coming 
into favor. The navy department, I believe, has 
recommended its general adoption. The raft cannot 
be overturned, and the one here exhibited is capable 
of saving the lives of fifty persons. So much con- 
fidence is felt, that a party of navigators propose to 
leave New York for Paris upon one of these rafts, 
during the Exposition. I should, however, respect- 
fully decline being one of the party. 

A large concourse of interested persons may always 
be seen in the vicinity of the models of street-cars, as 
exhibited by Mr. Eastman, our Consul at Bristol. 
By a practical use of this system, which is an im- 
provement on that now in use, it is believed that all 
present objections to city railways will be removed. 
Mr. George Francis Train should look to his laurels ; 
for Mr. Eastman's plans are remarkable for their 
adaptability to any kind of road. The famous Ferris 
Gun, ordered to be built by President Lincoln, is 
here, and being securely chained, one might be appre- 
hensive of its liability to spontaneous explosion. Can 
it be feared that any one will run away with it ? 
This gun has been fired several hundred times, with 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 67 

the result, that, at an incline of 35 degrees, the ball 
was projected to the distance of nine miles. 

Considerable attention is drawn to the articles dis- 
played by the Tucker Manufacturing Company of 
Boston. These consist of chandeliers, lamps, brackets, 
clocks, cases, statuettes, &c, made of bronzed iron, 
which are quite as handsome as, and hardly to be dis- 
tinguished from, pure bronze, yet much cheaper. 
The Daball Patent Rotary Fog Trumpet is the in- 
vention of C. L. Daball, of New London, Connecticut. 
It can be heard from ten to twenty miles off in a fog, 
and produces a sound unlike to any other. In con- 
sequence, as a means of caution to ships at sea, it is 
destined to be of inestimable value. 

In the English department there are some splendid 
paintings contributed by the South Kensington 
Museum ; and it is in view of these that the distin- 
guished visitors — consisting of kings and princes, of 
whom there are several every day — may be seen 
more frequently than at any other place. Here also 
all Britishers do mostly congregate ; and Brown, 
Jones, and Robinson are comfortably seated with 
their better halves, or, perhaps, still dearer friends 
(to speak maliciously), and chat learnedly, or the 
reverse, about chiaroscuro and the middle distance. 
The French display of paintings is also very good ; 
though many of them are, in the eyes of the Parisians, 
old acquaintances, all the galleries of art whence they 
are principally taken being so liberally accessible to 
the people. Private studios and public galleries have 
alike contributed their treasures, and the result is 
highly creditable to the French as an artistic nation. 



68 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

From the galleries, however, of the Louvre and the 
Luxembourg palace none of the paintings have been 
removed. As in all collections of French paintings 
that I have thus far seen, so also here do battle-pieces 
and war scenes predominate. Thus the battle of 
Solferino, and the taking of the Malakoff are very 
graphically delineated ; and among the paintings of 
this description, the historical circumstance of Napo- 
leon I. passing through his encamped army on the 
eve of the battle of Austerlitz, and the soldiers dis- 
covering the Emperor, by a spontaneous impulse 
illumined the whole camp with thousands of torches, 
has given rise to one of the rarest productions. As 
a set-off to these, the charming landscapes and scenes 
of animated nature by Eosa Bonheur, and some ex- 
quisitely drawn classic pieces, are exhibited. The 
Prussian and Austrian schools of art are also well 
represented. America, the very name of which sug- 
gests the vast and the sublime in nature, has a char- 
acteristic display of art. Some of our paintings are 
enormous, as perhaps they should be, considering the 
subjects they represent. Among them is Bierstadt's 
great painting of the Rocky Mountains, and Church's 
Niagara ; and one of the most beautiful delineations 
here is an American Sunset by George Innes. Much 
has been said of the excellent qualities of portraits by 
Elliott of New York, and Hunt of Boston ; but, how- 
ever celebrated these may be, they lose very much by 
comparison with some of the portraits here exhibited. 
The portrait, by Hunt, of President Lincoln, which 
is here exposed, is really an excessively homely-look- 
ing production. It is true, the great original of the 



TEE GRAND EXPOSITION. 69 

picture was not exactly a beau ; but I have seen 
many handsomer likenesses of him that resembled 
him quite as much. 

In Italy (for thus it is that the different sections 
assume the names of the different countries from 
which they are furnished ; and friends, having occa- 
sion to separate in the spacious edifice, make appoint- 
ments to meet again at a given hour in China, or 
Constantinople, &c.) there is a marble statue of the 
Dying Napoleon, which is exciting a great deal of 
admiration. The subject is depicted as seated in an 
arm-chair, clothed in a loose wrapper, his shoulders 
supported by a pillow, and a robe thrown lightly over 
his person, covering him as high as the lower portion 
of his chest. The wasted figure and sunken cheek, 
but large, broad forehead, and penetrating eye are 
graphically illustrated. The work is by an Italian 
sculptor by the name of Yela, whose reputation will 
be established by this production. 

In India there is a large saloon, elegantly furnished 
with fauteuils and sofas, and supplied with light in 
such a manner as to enhance the effect of a bewilder- 
ing display of cashmere shawls, over which many a 
covetous beauty wrecks her heart, and drags what is 
left of it to I/vons, where it founders again over the 
profusion of silks of all the colors of the rainbow, and 
all the textures imaginable, from a transparent 
zephyr-like web, to that compact tissue which causes 
such a delicious noise — and what man has not felt 
it — when it sweeps by you in the shape of a gar- 
ment. Oh, what electricity there is in a silk dress ! 
a fact, in which there is at least as much truth as 



70 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

poetry. If anything of the aforesaid wrecked heart 
1 be still remaining, it will barely escape to the orfev- 
rerie of Christophel, the great jeweller of Paris, whose 
section of the Exposition recalls to mind the treasures 
of Alladin ; for the mass of gold and silver ware, the 
profusion of crystals and jewels and precious stones, 
is almost painful to gaze upon, — and so we will 
leave it. 

At Tunis a constant crowd is attracted by a 
Tunisian barber, who shaves gentlemen for a small 
consideration, and appears to enjoy a great rush of 
eager customers who seem anxious to have their 
noses pulled an 1 chin scraped by this Oriental in- 
dividual, though what there is in it I cannot for the 
life of me discover. 

Mexico has a temple here in which I have no doubt 
Maximilian would be glad to worship just now. 
Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Arabs, and Indians — in 
fact, specimens of all the live races, may be seen 
rambling about in characteristic costumes, and ap- 
pear generally to enjoy their situations. 

Allusion has been made to the silks from Lyons, 
and shawls from India ; but it is impossible to convey 
any adequate idea of the infinite variety and sumptu- 
ous attractiveness, taste, and arrangement with which 
these goods are displayed, to bait the desires of the 
ambulating visitor ; nor of the stacks of linens from 
Holland, Ireland, and Saxony; nor of the surgical 
and medical appliances from Paris ; the magnificent 
libraries from Leipzig, and the musical instruments 
from Munich. And what shall I say of the glorious 
statuary from Rome, the bijouterie from Geneva, the 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 71 

coral necklaces and diadems from Naples, and oh! 
the meerschaum pipes from Vienna and Turin ? The 
subject is too great, — I see a hook looming up before 
me, in attempting these descriptions, and dare allude 
to them but briefly. 

One of the most interesting divisions of the Expo- 
sition, although one not containing anything of beauty 
to the eye, is the agricultural department ; and an 
examination of the large collection of instruments 
and implements which it contains is interesting, es- 
pecially of the numerous kinds of fertilizers of the 
soil — some of which make themselves known very 
forcibly to other senses than that of sight. In this 
branch of agricultural doctoring its practitioners have 
of late gone far ahead of the college of physicians 
in its relations to humanity. The science of chem- 
istry has been brought to bear upon the soil, thanks 
to the discoveries of Professor Liebig. Farmers need 
no longer fertilize their soil empirically, but may only 
make up a small bag of it, and forward this to the 
professor of agricultural chemistry of this or that 
university. He analyzes it for a small fee, and tells 
them exactly in what essential element it is wanting. 
Not the least important feature of the " Egsposis- 
siong" as it is here called, is the field with all its 
Arcadian and architectural embellishments, and of 
which the great gasometrical fair-building constitutes 
only the central point. And as a whole, the event 
is beginning to assume such monstrous proportions, 
that one will soon see Paris almost entirely translated 
to the Champ de Mars. This quondam field for 
sham-battles and other military manoeuvres has been 



72 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

converted as by an act of enchantment, into a wil- 
derness of pavilions, temples, kiosks, and cottages, 
which nothing but the fairy purse of an imperial 
treasury could have wrought into such miraculous 
existence during so short a time. 

Among these buildings I was pleased to see one 
especially appropriated to the Sanitary Commission 
of the United States, in which specimens of all the 
articles that were made available by that philan- 
thropic organization constituted an exhibition that 
was quite imposing. Indeed, I was astonished my- 
self when I beheld here, within a sweep of the eye, 
the aggregate means that were presented for human- 
itarian purposes. The Prussians and Italians exhibit 
their resources of relief to the soldiers in a similar 
manner ; but are far behind in this respect, as com- 
pared with our own country. 

A very large pavilion is occupied by the French 
war department, where one may see the whole en- 
ginery of war in such close and collective proximity, 
that the appearance which they present is enough to 
fill the reflective mind with horror. 

Close to this, with rather questionable taste, is the 
Cathedral of the park, admission to which imposes 
an extra charge of half a franc, and in which are 
exhibited many curiosities of religious import. 
Then, there is an immense tower, iron-plated, which 
must be over a hundred feet high, and I think con- 
tains a reservoir somewhere near the top, from which 
to supply the great quantity of water used in the 
park for the fountains that are profusely scattered 
all about. There is an hydraulic engine close by that 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 73 

pumps the water from the Seine to this reservoir. 
Near this are erected on a scaffold of trestle-work, 
the chimes that are destined for the new cathedral 
at Buffalo, New York. They were manufactured 
here, and are displayed as a masterpiece of their 
kind. They toll the time every hour, and play an 
air, the whole "being worked hy machinery, like a 
clock. But the most pleasing part of the whole Ex- 
position is the reserved garden, admission to which 
costs another ten sous extra. Within this enclosure 
are hot-houses, where the most beautiful tropical 
plants may be seen, comprising every variety of flowers, 
vegetables, and fruits, from the succulent cherry to 
the delicious pineapple. Outside of the hot-houses 
the place is laid out as a most beautiful garden, on 
an undulating surface, through which several small 
rivulets meander in serpentine directions, forming, at 
irregular intervals, delightful little lakes, with green, 
grassy borders, whose smooth surface reflect the pen- 
dent branches drooping over them from arbors and 
bowers that covet the votaries of Cupid, and which, 
under the mellow moonbeams of a summer evening, 
should awaken the melodies of the syrens. 

Entering a cave, artificially created, one beholds 
the jutting protuberances of the rocks, and stalac- 
tites of irregular dimensions that stud the ceiling 
all around, and look threatening like the sword of 
Damocles, with a weird doom suspended especially 
over all silk hats. The sudden turns made by the 
walls of the excavation, which are lined with large 
aquariums, so artistically adjusted into the sides, as 
perfectly to bewilder the mind to know how it is 



74 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

possible for them to be there at all, present all in all 
a presumptuousness in art, that looks very much like 
flying in the face of nature. These aquariums afford 
the strange appearance of an interrupted wall of water 
and rock, and through the glass sides of the watery 
part of the wall may be seen any number of minnows, 
gold- and sunfish, in sportive dalliance with bigger 
fellows, s,uch as mackerels, eels, shad, and a great va- 
riety of the finny tribe. Leaving the interior of the 
cave, one may ascend it from the outside by a wind- 
ing path, and by the side of a cascade that splutters 
and foams and tumbles down the rocks as though it 
would like to be a little Magara, but reminds me 
more of Southey's description of the Falls of Lodore 
than any other " waterfall " I ever beheld. This 
cataract is fed by a lake on the top of the cave, which 
in its turn is supplied from the reservoir heretofore 
mentioned. Indeed, the tout ensemble of this reserved 
park constitutes it a perfect fairy land, and almost 
realizes the descriptions given in the Arabian Nights' 
stories. 

Yesterday the Fair was visited by the Emperor 
and Empress, who spent several hours among its 
wonders and novelties. Indeed, their Majesties may 
be seen there almost daily ; so may many other no- 
bilities and notabilities. The King of Greece, during 
his sojourn here, was a constant visitor, and the 
monarchs of Russia, Prussia, and Austria are posi- 
tively expected to bedazzle Paris with their presence 
in the coming summer. During the past week I 
have visited the Exposition daily ; and it certainly 
has been well patronized, notwithstanding the in- 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 75 

clemency of the weather that we have had. There 
are many evidences of an unfinished condition still 
apparent ; but every day adds something to the 
charms and to the wonders of the place. The vege- 
tation in the various plots and gardens has very 
sensibly improved under the tutelage of bounteous 
Dame Nature, and all these places look fresh, ver- 
dant, and altogether lovely. The band of the Garde 
de Paris gives an additional charm to the grounds, 
and the crowds who listen to the lively strains look 
happy as the day is long. It would be exhilarating 
to hear the dear old melodies of Hail Columbia and 
the Star-Spangled Banner occasionally ; but that is a 
pleasure to be deferred. 

Somebody asked my American friend, what he 
thought of the Exposition, and he replied that, in 
his opinion, "It is the world done up in a small par- 
cel, as if it was meant to swap it off in a retail spec- 
ulation for a similar assortment from some other 
world ; but in the face of too many difficulties of 
transportation, it will be found best to tear up the 
curious bundle again, and store away its component 
parts in their customary shelves." It is, indeed, a 
moving miniature of as much human exploit and 
handicraft, in operation and in result, as could well 
be crowded upon the limited portion of nature that 
was allotted for the purpose. It is a grand concep- 
tion, carried out with wonderful success ; and I shall 
ever feel an inward satisfaction at having been privi- 
leged to witness the extensive and beautiful experi- 
ment ; for I do not believe that anything of a simi- 
lar nature, in capacity and in detail, will be again 



76 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

produced for a long time to come. To see all of the 
enlightened, and many of the doubtfully civilized 
nations of the earth, with their different colors and 
complexions ; languages and habits of life ; mental 
and physical distinctive traits ; natural products and 
creative genius, of primitive labor and inventive 
craft — to see all these commingled and displaj'ed in 
such a narrow compass that the studious mind and 
observant eye may scan the whole of it, and draw 
instructive lessons therefrom, is an epoch in any 
man's life that may not reasonably be despised. 

The detached, fragmentary manner in which this 
letter has been written will be understood, I trust, as 
the natural result of the scattered character of my 
observations. I have been enabled only to write hur- 
riedly of what I have hurriedly seen ; for to obtain 
a correct idea of the entirety of that great temple of 
art and industry, situate at present in the Champ de 
Mars, would demand the labor of a month of study. 
In fact, the croakers and grumblers who have indulged 
their ill tempers in speaking of the Exhibition, must 
now begin to feel that they have been in the wrong. 
If crowds of delighted visitors mean anything — and 
there is an average number of fifty thousand a day 
— then it has not been a failure, but is already a 
great success ; and if it be so now, what will it be 
when Paris receives the scores of thousands who will 
undoubtedly come hither yet ? The high prices 
charged at some of the leading hotels, however, 
added to a perhaps exaggerated fear of the expense 
of living here, has tended to keep many away who 
would otherwise have come. I will be practical, and 



THE GRAND EXPOSITION. 77 

state as nearly as I can what it costs me. I have a 
room on the third story of the Hotel du Monde, sit- 
uated on Rue Lafayette, one of the pleasantest streets 
in the city, except the Boulevards. This room is 
quite comfortably furnished ; containing an excellent 
bed, with spring and hair mattresses, a marble-cov- 
ered toilet-stand, a table, four comfortable chairs, a 
lounge, a clock on the mantelpiece, and a large ward- 
robe, the door of which is a mirror. For all of this, 
including the service of the concierge, I pay four 
francs a day. Each breakfast costs me about two 
and a half francs, and dinner generally four francs. 
I have given these details to show how false the 
impression is that prevails abroad. Of course, one 
can spend a great deal more, but I doubt whether 
health and comfort would be enhanced thereby. 
Altogether it is possible to live very comfortably for 
about three dollars a day. If cabs are frequently 
hired, and the assistance of a guide (whose charges 
are generally five francs a day) is needed, which is 
almost a necessity to those unacquainted with the 
French language, then the expenses run up accord- 
ingly. I have met a number of Americans who com- 
plained greatly about the tariffs to which they were 
subjected; but I am satisfied, in almost every in- 
stance, that they were themselves to blame. They 
are reckless in the details of their expenditures ; and 
are only laughed at by the shrewd Parisians in return. 

The other day the King and Queen of Belgium 
arrived here, and were received by the Emperor in 
person at the depot. In fact there are just now a 



78 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

great many royal princes and princesses " and such M 
in this city ; among whom are the king and queen 
just mentioned, the Queen of Portugal, the King of 
Greece, the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, Prince 
Oscar of Sweden, the Princess Clotilda, the Grand 
Duchess Maria of Russia, the Prince de Hohenlohe, 
the Duke of Lichtenberg, Lord and Lady Cowley, 
&c. Besides this, it is announced that the Shah of 
Persia and the Sultan of Turkey will come to France 
in July, to visit the Exposition ; and it is also defi- 
nitely asserted, that the Czar of Russia and King 
"William of Prussia — the trouble between the latter 
magnate and Napoleon having been smoothed over 
— will arrive early in June, probably the first or 
second ; and that King Victor Emanuel and the 
Emperor of Austria will be here shortly after. And 
thus we are in the sublime anticipation of great 
events. Many people and much money will hither 
wend their way, and Paris mettra tout cela dans lapoche. 



LETTER IV. 

THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 

AMUSEMENTS OF THE PARISIANS.— THE THEATRES.— THE 
NEW OPERA OF ROMEO AND JULIET.— THE CAFES CHAN- 
T ANTS. — AN UNIQUE PERFORMANCE.— THE LOVE OF 
FL WERS.—RA CES IN THE B OIS DE BOULO GNE.—PALA CES 
AT ST. CLOUD, FONTAINEBLEAU, AND VERSAILLES.— THE 
SOLDIERS. — POLICE SYSTEM. — PARIS AT NIGHT.— THE 
WINE AND THE WATER. 

Paris, May, 1867. 

THE sources and opportunities for amusement to 
the people of this city are almost inexhaustible. 
Indeed, pleasure-seeking seems to be the prevailing 
business that preoccupies every individual. Of course, 
you see a sprinkling of work going on ; such as houses 
being erected, old ones pulled down ; streets being 
cleaned ; carts loaded with vegetables and all other 
imaginable things, drawn about in every direction by 
little donkeys with bells, and, I am sorry to say, by 
women ; — yet even these appear more like a species 
of recreation and enjoyment than real labor. 

You see a fellow languidly mixing mortar with his 
hoe, and smoking his pipe at the same time ; another 
carries it — the mortar, not the pipe — in a hod, to 
the fourth story of some building in process of erec- 
tion, whistling all the while an air from Fra Diavolo, 
or holding an interesting and lively chat with some 
one on the sidewalk. He reminds you of the story 
of the Irishman in America, who wrote home to his 

(79) 



80 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

cousin : " Och, Pat me boy, come to this count hry if 
you want to live at aise. You have only to carry 
bricks in a bod up four sbtories of ladder, and there, 
be jabers ! you will find a spalpeen that will do all the 
work for you." 

My American friend who delivers himself at times 
of such gross absurdities that I would back him 
against any story-teller in Christendom, says : u I 
never see these Frenchmen perspire at labor ; but 
often in the midst of an exciting conversation, when 
they get so fearfully argumentative, that I live in 
almost constant dread of witnessing the spilling of 
their calorific blood ; but just when I think they are 
going to blow out each other's brains, they wind up 
with a hearty laugh and mutual understanding all 
round." 

Theatre-going is probably more of an institution 
here than anywhere else in the world ; for, although 
the prices of admission are quite as high as in America, 
and the remuneration for labor much less, yet the 
theatres — and there are some thirty at least — are 
crowded nightly, and that, too, with a full proportion 
of the laboring classes. It appears to me that they 
go to the theatres to save the trouble of reading 
books; and, consequently, the author and not the 
actors of a play stands uppermost in people's minds. 
Thus, they tell you, that they will go to this or that 
theatre, in order to witness this or that new piece by 
Dumas-fils, Meurice, or any other author; and its 
success will depend upon whether it is well and 
wittily written, — its representation on the stage, it is 
taken for granted, will be correct. While on this 



THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 81 

subject, it were as well to give some little account of 
the new opera of Romeo and Juliet (the music by 
Gounod, the composer of Faust) that was produced 
quite recently at the Theatre Lyrique. The whole 
opera bears the stamp of Shakspearean inspiration, 
and adheres with strict fidelity to the original text. 

It is worthy of the composer of Faust, and may 
even displace that production in the race for popu- 
larity ; indeed, it is always said by competent critics, 
that there are passages in Romeo which surpass, in 
richness and melody, the finest morceaux in Faust. 
The overture in itself is brilliant ; at the end of which 
the curtain rises, and the Capulets, Montagues, Romeo, 
Juliet, Mercutio, the Friar and ITurse sing a chorus 
without accompaniment. The love-strains of the 
balcony-scenes convey a pathos that touches the 
heart. The marriage ceremony in the friar's cell is 
beautiful in its sweet simplicity. The marriage after- 
wards of Juliet with the County Paris is grand and 
imposing to a degree only equalled and not surpassed 
by the procession and march in Faust, or the Prophete. 
The death-scene by the tomb is made up of fragments 
of the love-passages in the preceding duets, so skil- 
fully woven together that no objection can be made 
to their being served up again. Indeed, I have rarely 
listened to music that has had such an intoxicating 
effect over my senses as this opera of Romeo and 
Juliet. 

At the Italian Opera, L'Africaine is performed al- 
ternately with Don Carlos. I once witnessed a repre- 
sentation of the former at Philadelphia, and was not 
particularly pleased with it. "Whether it be that its 



82 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

production here on a scale almost approaching the 
miraculous, or its greater excellence in music, or my 
better appreciation of it on a second attendance, cer- 
tain it is, that something has greatly revolutionized 
my opinion. But L'Africaine has been so frequently 
described, and any attempt on my part to depict its 
performance here would fall so far short of what it 
should be, that I will desist. 

Popular places of resort to the Parisians are the 
Cafes Chantants — places where the pleasures of the 
palate are associated with those of the ear. To these, 
you are informed by placards on the outside, admis- 
sion is free ; but when you get within, you are obliged 
to take a cup of coffee or a glass of beer, for either 
©f which it will be necessary to pay two francs. In 
one of these retreats, euphoniously distinguished as 
the Alcazar, I witnessed — besides a great deal of 
second-rate singing and first-rate dancing — a unique 
performance, in the way of a young Improvisatore, 
who came before the audience with a piece of white 
paper and a pencil ; whereupon he bade the audience 
to call out any words they wished, which was com- 
plied with by a great many from different parts of 
the house, and in the most incongruous manner. 
But, as well as he could catch the words, he wrote 
them down in the order they were given, at the end 
of every line of his paper ; and, when he had a page 
of such words, he filled up the lines so as to make 
the whole production a jingle of rhymes — and it was 
said to be excellent poetry. Apostrophizing the sub- 
lime genius, I whispered into the ear of my American 
friend the well-known quotation — 



THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 83 

" Shade of the mighty ! can it be 
That this is all remains of thee? " 

when he immediately responded: " That chap on the 
platform would say — 

' Great muse of poetry ! is it true, 
That this is all that's left of you ? ' " 

In these cafes, amid volumes of smoke from the 
fragrant weed, the blouse and frock-coat are con- 
spicuous, interspersed here and there with a muslin 
cap and merino gown, listening to the comic songs, 
or snatches from favorite operas, that are gushed out 
over them by the performers. On the Avenue des 
Champs Elysues there are concerts of this description, 
where the audience is accommodated in the open air, 
and the singers are under elegant kiosks, gayly painted 
and adorned with flowers. 

The love of flowers among the people here amounts 
to a passion ; their persons, their houses, and every 
object of love being decorated with a flowery vest- 
ment. Consequently there are some five or six large 
flower markets, of which that which is held on the 
Place de la Madeleine is one of the curiosities of the 
city. There, on Tuesdays and Fridays, the air is 
redolent with the intoxicating aroma that emanates 
from the vast quantity and variety of the genus flora 
that are displayed for purchase ; and many are the 
little tokens of affection that are there culled and 
assorted to convey tender messages from one to 
another ; and many the arch maiden and the san- 
guine youth who may be there seen tripping along 
between the beautiful bouquets, asking their prices 



84 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

here and there, with a burning, tell-tale cheek and 
swelling heart — a heart not yet charred and blistered 
by the torrid heats of exhausted passion, or frozen by 
the wintery winds of adversity; but full of joy, full 
of hope, full of the promise of a golden future. 

Last Sunday was a great day in the Bois de Bou- 
logne, it being a day appointed for the races to come 
off; and the weather being extremely warm and 
summer-like, thousands of people were attracted to 
that beautiful spot, which may truly be said to be the 
lungs of Paris. The races were very exciting, and 
betting was going on to a shocking extent. Indeed, 
to one not accustomed to such a desecration of the 
Sabbath, the scene was anything but agreeable. 

The number of grand equipages that were present 
was perfectly astounding, and such a display of 
sumptuous livery and extravagant vassalage can only 
be appreciated by being seen — words can do no ade- 
quate justice to the subject. Among these was the 
Emperor himself, who was readily distinguished by 
the six horses attached to his carriage, (none other 
being allowed that number of horses,) and by the 
colors of his livery, green and gold. Hardly inferior 
to the equipage of Napoleon, were many others owned 
by the nobility, generals, ministers, plenipotentiary 
representatives of other nations, and by the wealthy 
citizens of Paris. On all occasions of parade and dis- 
play, Prince Metternich, the Austrian minister, can 
be singled out most conspicuously by the gayety and 
magnificence of his turnouts. 

On our return to the city from the Bois, these car- 
riages constituted a crowded procession of miles in 



THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 85 

length ; and while it was passing down the Avenue 
de TEmperatrice, a man ascended with a monster 
balloon from the Hippodrome close by. I think, on 
the least calculation, there must have been sixty 
thousand people out at the races and other parts of 
the woods of Boulogne during the day. 

One of the amusements on this occasion had been 
a little adventure which my American friend had 
with a French thimble-rigger, who was shuffling a 
number of cards, and turning three of them upon 
their faces so slowly and deliberately, that it appeared 
impossible not to see that they were three aces, of 
hearts, diamonds, and spades respectively ; or to know 
exactly which of the three either of them was. 

" I challenge any gentleman to tell me where the 
ace of hearts is," said he, in French, to the motley 
crowd who had gathered about him. My American 
friend, who had seen that sort of thing before in 
Jones' Wood and at Coney Island, looked curiously 
at the little, black-bearded professor of legerdemain, 
and then ventured to say, with a horrible English 
accent, that he thought he knew where the little 
joker was ; and would back his opinion by a small 
wager of a Napoleon. This proposal was immedi- 
ately accepted ; the stakes were put up ; and then 
being asked to produce the aforesaid ace of hearts, 
he seized the Frenchman's arm, and in an instant 
extracted from under the sleeve thereof the card in 
question. 

The excitement that followed this denouement 
amid the observant crowd was a curious admixture 
of mirth and anger. The little thimble-rigger had 



86 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

been outwitted, and my American friend, who was 
looked upon as quite a hero, pocketed the two Napo- 
leons, and went his way rejoicing. 

The palaces at Versailles, St. Cloud, and Fontaine- 
bleau, also draw a great number from the city every 
day, and a greater number every Sunday, not only 
of strangers who visit Paris, but to a great extent 
of Parisians themselves ; who never get done looking 
at those magnificent monuments of art and royalty ; 
but return to them over and over again ; and each 
one appears to take as much interest in any one of 
the palaces as if he owned it himself, and was its 
lordlii.g " to the manor born." "Whichever of its 
many residences the Imperial family occupies is not 
accessible to visitors at the time being ; but the others 
are all thrown open to satisfy the eager curiosity of 
the public, and the foot of the stranger may tread 
through all their rooms, nor is the sanctity respected 
even of the chamber of the Empress. 

Nevertheless, there is always an ample guard of 
magnificently uniformed soldiers, who parade about 
in great pomp and circumstance, and although one 
may go everywhere and look at everything, yet under 
no condition is a person allowed to touch anything 
whatever. 

Speaking of the soldiers, what a great element they 
constitute in France, and especially in Paris ! They 
may be seen at all hours of the day or night, singly 
or in groups ; and the many uniforms of the differ- 
ent arms of the service, but all gay and beautiful, 
produce a pretty effect in the general sprinkling of 
them through the thickly populous streets. Indeed, 



THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 87 

the dress of the soldiers is unexceptionable, in regard 
to the elegance of the fit, and the neatness and clean- 
liness in which it is kept ; and what with all its 
stripes and decorations and tinselled embellishments, 
a private soldier here looks far more gorgeous than 
General Grant in full uniform. 

Then the Sergeants de Yille, or policemen, are 
another set of splendidly attired fellows ; and there 
are so many of them, that by the time night comes, 
your eyes ache from the everlasting deep-blue coats 
and shining brass buttons they have encountered 
during the live-long day. But it must be admitted 
in connection with this subject, that the police system 
here is as near perfection as such a thing may pos- 
sibly be. I have been here almost a month now, and 
have not read of a single theft, to say nothing of 
murder and any of the bolder catalogue of crimes 
having been committed. Although there is doubtless 
a great deal of vice ; yet actual, open, and defiant 
crime is extremely rare. This is the more apparent 
from the extreme horror with which the ideas of 
New York and a disregard of the laws are associated 
in every Frenchman's mind. True, their system here 
is one of espionage ; and although one feels a trifle 
less free than in New York, for instance, yet one cer- 
tainly feels, at the same time, a great deal more safe. 
Yoila ! the extent of their system. You arrive at 
a hotel ; by-and-by the landlord gives you, with much 
obsequious politeness, a blank statement to fill up, 
which requires your name, nativity, age, occupation, 
last residence, how long you expect to stay at 
Paris, and whether (if a foreigner) you have a pass- 



88 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

port. Thus they know all about you, and know 
exactly who, and how many strangers are in the 
city. Besides this, there is a certain mystery in 
almost everything that lays heavy on one's Yankee 
curiosity. Thus you come home from the theatre at 
night, and find the door or porter's gate locked. You 
ring the bell, and instantly the door flies open, as if 
some magic "sesame" had been pronounced. You 
are startled by this sudden response of invisible agents 
to your touch of the bell-knob, but you glide in not- 
withstanding, and push the door back, which closes 
with a sharp click, as if it had closed between you 
and liberty forever. You see no person whatever, 
but reflect and make up your mind that you have 
been let into the house by some horrible French 
machination. You sit down in your own room in 
thoughtful contemplation, wondering whether some 
"iron mask" will be clapped upon your face soon. 

With the resignation of true philosophy, you re- 
tire and go to sleep, and in the morning when you 
awake again, with the heavenly light streaming into 
your chamber- window, you feel jubilant to find that 
you are not a prisoner after all ; for the door is un- 
locked, your pocket-book with all its important con- 
tents still occupies the pocket of your nether garment, 
as you flung them on the chair the evening before ; 
the watch — the bright yellow golden watch — is 
still hanging on the nail in the wall, and ticking 
away as if its mainspring was on a great bender, and 
having a jolly old time on tick. Temptingly it hangs 
there ; but no ruthless hands have touched its pretty 
face, except those that describe their daily circuit 



THE PARISIAN'S LOVE OF AMUSEMENTS. 89 

from its centre, and indicate the progress of fleet- 
footed time. Another mystery that is difficult to 
unravel, is, to know when people — or whether they 
ever do — go to hed. I have returned to " mine inn " 
from the various attractions which the night affords 
as late as one o'clock, and found the Boulevards just 
as crowded, and the cafes as noisy and brilliant and 
full as during any time of the twenty-four hours. I 
entered one of them, took a little eau de Seltz, and 
smoked a cigar, thinking I would wait and find out 
the Parisian bedtime ; but at two o'clock I gave up 
the contest, and retired myself, no wiser than I was 
before. 

Mystery number three is, where all the wine 
comes from that these people drink. It seems to me, 
that if the entire surface of the earth was planted 
with grapevines, and there never was a failure in the 
crop, they could not produce grapes enough from 
which to squeeze out all the wine that is consumed 
here. You walk into a restaurant for your dinner, 
the first thing the. " garcon " asks is, what kind of 
wine you will have, and not whether you will have 
any at all ; and when told that you desire no wine, 
he seems paralyzed with astonishment, and looks at 
you with such an air of pity and commiseration, that 
you drink a bottle of Bordeaux, just to save the poor 
boy's life. To tell the truth, however, the water that 
one gets here is not fit to drink ; it is obtained from 
the Seine, and although filtered and taken from 
above the city, the association is anything but plea- 
sant. In course of time it is hoped that they will 
have artesian wells to supply the water in sufficient 



90 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

quantity for the city. Already at the Bois de Bou- 
logne they have a well of this kind, that produces a 
very large stream of water. It is, I believe, the 
deepest in the world, with the exception of that in 
Columbus, Ohio ; so deep, in fact, that the water is 
quite warm — warm enough to create a suspicion 

that well, the reader may draw the inference, 

while the Parisians draw the water. 

My American friend, who has just read this letter, 
calls it a light and trivial affair ; but yxirbleu I what 
else can one write on such an effervescent subject as 
the amusements of the French ? 



LETTER V. 

BOULEVARD DE SEBASTOPOL. 

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS OF PARIS. 

Paris, May, 1867. 

IT is my purpose to devote this letter principally 
to a subject in which it is but natural that I 
should feel interested, namely, the medical institu- 
tions of this good city. 

In order to approach these, let us enter one of the 
most beautiful, though not, perhaps, most fashion- 
able thoroughfares of Paris — the comparatively new 
Boulevard de Sebastopol. Although in the morning 
it represents the scene of a long and extensive market, 
being literally crowded with wagons and carts, so as 
to make it almost impossible to pass through it with 
a carriage, yet the sidewalks are so wide and free 
from obstructions, that no difficulty is experienced in 
one's pedestrian progress of reviewing this extraor- 
dinary living panorama. 

Having passed southward, we traverse the Place 
du Chatelet, with the Imperial Theatre du Chatelet 
on our right, and the Lyrique on the left, with the 
beautiful fountain that adorns that square, in the 
centre. The fountain was the first monument erected 
in commemoration of the victories of the Republic 
and the Empire. It consists of a circular basin, some 
twenty-five feet in diameter, with a high stone column 

(91) 



92 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

in the form of a palm-tree in the centre. On the ped- 
estal are four statues, representing Justice, Strength, 
Prudence and Vigilance, which join hands and encir- 
cle the column. The shaft is intersected with bands 
of gilt bronze, inscribed with the names of the prin- 
cipal victories of Napoleon. 

The water issues from four cornucopiae, terminat- 
ing in fishes' heads, and from the mouths of four 
sphjnxes ; on two sides are eagles encircled by wreaths 
of laurels ; and on the summit of the shaft is a gilt 
statue of Victory. 

Passing on, we arrive at the river's side, and cross 
it by the bridge (Pont au Change), and will be in the 
Cite — an island where, it is said, the first Roman 
squatter sovereigns located themselves some sixty 
years before the birth of Christ, and formed the 
nucleus of Paris, and where, besides other buildings, 
the important edifices of Notre Dame, the Hotel 
Dieu, and the Palais de Justice were afterwards 
erected. 

The Hotel Dieu consists of two long, old and 
shabby-looking stone buildings, extending along the 
two banks of the southern portion of the river, of 
the two arms that form the island ; and you pass 
from one building to the other by means of a covered 
bridge or passage-way. 

This, then, is the world-renowned and most ancient 
hospital of Paris. I confess that, when I first saw 
it, I was somewhat disappointed ; but falling back 
on its time-honored history, and the great men who 
have taught and practised in its wards the allevia- 
tion of suffering humanity, I could not but look at 



BOULEVARD DE SEBASTOPOL. 93 

it with, a feeling of reverence and admiration. "We 
will pass it by, however, for the present, and proceed 
across the second bridge (Pont St. Michel), along the 
beautiful fountain where the Archangel is repre- 
sented as destroying Satan, and from the rock form- 
ing the basement of which, and the mouths of two 
dragons, streams of water gush into the basins below. 
"We continue a short distance down the Boulevard 
St. Michel, pass the Boulevard St. Germain, and in 
doing so, glance at the Hotel de Cluny, a museum of 
antiquities, and the Palais des Thermes, which is a 
still remaining ruin of a castle built by Julius Osesar, 
— and turn at last to the right, into the Rue de 
VEcole de Medecine. This is a narrow street, with 
very narrow sidewalks ; but as thoroughly devoted 
to the goddess of Medicine as Wall Street in New 
York is to Mammon. Here the windows of the 
shops exhibit a profusion of skeletons, in picturesque 
and artistic attitudes, most tempting to the covetous 
student ; a fine display of anatomical plates and prep- 
arations ; casts in wax of the muscular system, and 
manikins of every description. Next door is a gor- 
geous assortment of surgical instruments, of quaint 
and curious fabric, bright and glittering, like dia- 
monds in the sunshine, that make a cut here and a 
stab there, and the sawing off of an occasional bone, 
look like fascinating little affairs rather to be desired 
than otherwise. 

Next door again you have a medical library dis- 
played in the windows. Pamphlets, and monographs, 
and treatises, and elaborate French and ponderous 
German works, that would take ages to read, and 



94 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the very sight of which makes one wonder how it 
is possible — in the face of all this learning — that 
human beings are ever permitted to die. I have 
seen some of the learned authors of these books rub 
their hands in glee at the discovery on a post-mor- 
tem examination, of a pathological condition, " Just 
as they had predicted." But the poor body was 
dead. Ah 1 how well we understand the infirmities 
that flesh and blood are heir to ! If men were crys- 
tallized we could not see any better than we do now 
the fatal tubercles gnawing at their lungs, or the 
refractory valves that will not serve their functions 
in the heart. But where is the remedial agent? 
Shades of Hippocrates and Galen ! we know the 
bane ; but where, oh where is the antidote ? We 
diagnose diseases so nicely now as to discriminate, in 
a case of mania a potn, the species of stimulant by 
which it was produced ; if by whiskey, the face will 
be pale ; by wine, it will be red ; and if caused by a 
malt beverage, the nose alone will stand out as "a 
burning and a shining light." Xow this is very 
well ; but how about the treatment ? A young fel- 
low, who professes to be very scientific, says : " In 
the first instance give wine ; in the second, whiskey ; 
and in the third, wine and whiskey alternately, fre- 
quently, and in large doses." Medica aliquid dandum 
est." The American friend, who is my oracle and a 
doctor, again prompts me, and says, that "the science 
of disease, by the aid of chemistry and the micro- 
scope, has become a beautiful perfection ; but all the 
various systems of therapeutics, or modes of treat- 
ment, are a hum — a very imperfect thing indeed." 



BOULEVARD BE SEBASTOPOL. 95 

But I am getting into my old habits — it is time to 
stop this abusing of my bread and butter. 

Next to the bookstore you will see another window 
studded with optical instruments, among which mi- 
croscopes are most conspicuous ; and some of them 
are so powerful — you will be told — that if you place 
a small particle of brain under their lenses, you can 
almost see it think. 

Thus a succession of professional appliances will be 
met in the shops all along the street, until you arrive 
at the College, where the Faculte of France give 
their medical instruction. This faculty consists of 
twenty-nine professors, and the same number of sub- 
professors. They deliver lectures on fourteen differ- 
ent branches of science applicable to the practice of 
medicine and surgery. The lectures are free to all ; 
but in order to obtain the diploma of the Faculty, 
which entitles the possessor to practise his profession 
in France, a course of study during four years, and a 
tri-monthly subjection to examination, are necessary. 

As these examinations are conducted in public, I 
have attended some of them ; and must confess, that 
I have been very favorably impressed with the care- 
ful manner in which doctors are created in this coun- 
try. The place where the examinations are held is a 
large and magnificently furnished apartment, car- 
peted with heavy Brussels tapestry, to prevent the 
noise of footsteps. The walls are hung with allegor- 
ical paintings and portraits of the eminent fathers of 
medicine and surgery, copiously interspersed with 
marble busts representing the same, and a very ex- 
cellent one, occupying the place of honor on a special 



96 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

pedestal, and bearing trie well-known features of the 
present Emperor. Along the sides of the room are 
sofas and chairs, covered with crimson plush, for the 
accommodation of the visitors who desire to witness 
the examinations. In the rear end of the room is a 
long table covered with green baize, before which are 
seated three candidates (during these ceremonies), and 
behind it, fronting the auditory, are the three pro- 
fessors who examine in turn. They are attired in deep 
scarlet robes of satin, and crowned with black caps, 
glittering with broad and heavy gold bands. Amidst 
the breathless silence is only heard the distinct ques- 
tion, followed, after a pause, by the subdued and 
modest answer. 

At one examination that I witnessed, on the sub- 
ject of Materia Medica, the table was covered with 
bottles and jars, filled with different medicaments, 
but without any labels to denote their contents. 
These articles the candidates were required to de- 
nominate and describe, giving their history, chemical 
reagencies, physical and medical properties, &c. At 
another examination on Anatomy which I saw con- 
ducted, the candidate was placed before an anatomical 
subject, into which a long knife or catline was plunged 
at hap-hazard up to the hilt, and he was then directed 
to enumerate and describe all the blood-vessels, nerves, 
muscles, and organs of the body that had been trans- 
pierced by the knife ; after which he was asked to 
expose a given nerve, or artery, or muscle ; and 
finally, to perform, on the subject before him, this or 
that man's mode of operation for this or that patho- 
logical condition. 



BOULEVARD BE SEBASTOPOL. 97 

After the examination is over, which generally 
continues about three hours, the audience is required 
to withdraw ; a private conference is had between the 
three judges, the result of which is afterwards made 
known by a clerk to the assembled students in an 
adjoining room, by whom, if favorable, it is generally 
received with demonstrations of joy and satisfaction; 
if unfavorable, with long and thoughtful faces, and 
expressive silence. 

Among the audiences in attendance upon the lec- 
tures, v I constantly see men of all ages, from the 
youthful student to the venerable old man, who has 
evidently seen a great deal of service in the profes- 
sion ; but comes here to refresh his mind on special 
subjects, or listen to the promulgation of some new 
theory or mode of treatment. Men from all coun- 
tries, too, are here* ; a large number from the United 
States, several from Mexico, and many from Eng- 
land, Germany, and other European sections. But, 
strangest of all, there are six or seven black men in 
daily attendance on the lectures. They are young 
men, dressed genteelly, and associate with the other 
students as if they were not at all proud ; walking 
along the streets, engaged all the while in animated 
conversation with white men, or entering a restaurant, 
and partaking of an " absinthe" or "caffe noir" with 
some Caucasian friend, who never thinks of drawing 
any lines of social distinction between his sable com- 
panion and himself. These people are here called 
Egyptians, as we would speak of Germans, English- 
men, Italians, &c, distinguishing them from other 
people by the country they come from, rather than 

7 



98 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

by the color of their skin. At home we would call 
these medical students " niggers ; " at least, such is 
the opinion of my American friend, and I am sure he 
knows. 

The section of Paris where the medical colleges are 
located was formerly distinguished as the Latin 
Quarter, and all students resided in its precincts, lead- 
ing a rather loose and Bohemian life. Of late years, 
however, that portion of the city has been much im- 
proved by stately mansions, taking the place of in- 
elegant houses, and splendid boulevards in lieu of 
the labyrinthine thoroughfares that constituted the 
haunts and purlieus of debauchery in former days. 
An old relic of the olden time, however, is still re- 
tained in what is known as the Closerie des Lilas, 
which is a special resort for students, and, like the 
Jar din Mabille, constitutes an arena for the midnight 
saturnalia, where the gay and licentious of both sexes 
congregate, passing the hours, that should be devoted 
to better purposes, in very questionable propriety, 
where the can-can dance runs through the whole 
order of exercises, and voluptuous abandonment 
characterizes the entire proceeding. 

One of the most popular hospitals of Paris, if not 
the most popular, is La Charite, where Drs. Mal- 
gaigne, Bouillaud, and the venerable and world- 
renowned Yelpeau * prescribe for the sick, and give 
their clinical instructions. The latter-named gen- 
tleman is some eighty years of age, yet performs 
operations for cataract on the eye with a steady 
hand, and without spectacles. Indeed, it is touching 

* Since dead. 



BOULEVARD BE SEBASTOPOL. 99 

to see the poor patients brighten in the face when he 
approaches their bedside ; for he is greatly venerated 
by the citizens of Paris, who look upon him as af kind 
of medical demigod. And for myself I must say that 
I feel it as a great privilege, being enabled at this late 
period of his life to follow the teachings of this ex- 
perienced man ; one of whose principal works I read 
many years ago, as it was then translated by our own 
eminent but now deceased Dr. Mott of New York. 

I regret exceedingly that another venerable patri- 
arch in the profession, Dr. Trousseau, whom I had 
hoped to be enabled to see, is so ill that his recovery 
is despaired of.* 

The Hotel-Dieu, the most ancient asylum for the 
sick in Paris, still retains a reputation worthy of its 
past record. Here, where Bichat, Dupuytren, Desault, 
and more recently, Trousseau and Jobert de Lamballe, 
have ministered to their suffering fellow-beings, and 
covered the place with a classic halo, it is still evident 
that the work of humanity is in the hands of skilful 
servants, who have dedicated their lives to its faith- 
ful performance. Of these, I doubt not, that M. 
Fournier, whose teachings are of the rarest merit, 
and who has his whole heart in his occupation, will 
one day, if he lives, shed as fair a lustre upon science 
and the healing art as any one in the bright galaxy 
of names whose illustrious labors have preceded, but 
not eclipsed his own. 

The hospital Salpetriere is remarkable for its con- 
struction, as well as for its extent and capacity. It 
consists of no less than forty-five different buildings, 

* Since ^also dead. 



100 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

which in all reach to the length of 1,680 feet, and 
has 5,204 beds. From these few facts some idea can 
be forjned of the dimensions of this institntion. Its 
purpose is to receive, first, Reposantes, or women who 
have been in its service thirty years, and are upwards 
of sixty years of age; second, women upwards of 
seventy, who are afiiicted with incurable diseases ; 
third, insane and epileptic females. Not fewer than 
484 persons are employed in its service. The hospital 
St. Louis is chiefly designed for the treatment of 
skin-diseases and scrofula, although it also receives 
other cases, and had a great many patients during 
the prevalence of the cholera. It would be an excel- 
lent place for some of the sufferers of that very 
fashionable and " popular eruption " that has pre- 
vailed so extensively in the United States during and 
since the late war ; for they have a method here of 
curing the itch in two hours. It has a very large 
bathing establishment, justly celebrated for its medi- 
cated and mineral baths, particularly those of a sul- 
phurous nature. There is also a large vapor-bath, 
admitting by distinct entries eight patients at the 
same time. 

As a general thing, I find that throughout all the 
hospitals very little medicine is given ; indeed, it is 
surprising to what a degree this entire dependence 
upon the restorative powers of nature is carried, and 
that too, I am bound to say, with a very favorable 
result. A strict discipline of dietetics, and close atten- 
tion to all hygienic laws, are enforced, and that with 
the administration of Bordeaux wine, which they 
give under almost all circumstances, constitutes 



BOULEVARD BE SEBASTOPOL. 101 

nearly their sole treatment. Yet in cases of hopeless 
diseases they make exceptions to this treatment, and 
experiment with medicines to a fearful extent. Of 
these medicines, strychnine and arsenic are, just now, 
those that are most highly favored, and, of course, 
these are things not to be trifled with. 

There are a great many more hospitals and chari- 
table institutions that might be enumerated ; but I 
fear the reader is wearied of the subject, as it is not 
exactly that which is calculated to interest the general 
mind, yet not altogether without curious import to 
many. 



LETTER VI. 

THE GREAT NAPOLEON. 

THE MEMORY OF THE GREAT NAPOLEON. — HIS TOMB.— 
HOTEL DES INVALIDES.—ITS VETERAN INMATES.— IMPE- 
RIAL MUSEUM IN THE GALLERIES OF THE LOUVRE.— 
THE GALLERY CONTAINING RELICS OF NAPOLEON I.— 
THE TUILERIES.— THE IMPERIAL FAMILY.— THE JARDIN 
MABILLE.— ADVENTURE WITH A FAIR MAIDEN AND A 
STERN LANDLORD. 

Paris, May, 1867. 

IT is a truth admitting of no dispute, that the 
memory of the great Napoleon has a strong hold 
upon the affections of the French people. A clear 
evidence of this maj be seen on those days when the 
public is allowed ingress to that magnificent dome 
where the mortal remains of that wonderful man re- 
pose. Although a large proportion of the visitors 
are strangers, yet the majority are Frenchmen ; and 
of these the greatest number wear blouses, showing 
that they are of the great masses. It is affecting to 
see with what veneration they uncover their heads as 
they enter the portals of that, to them, hallowed 
precinct. Over the door to the entrance of the mar- 
ble crypt are inscribed, in letters of gold, these words 
from the last will and testament of the Prisoner at 
St. Helena : 

" Je desire que mes ccndres reposent sur les lords de. 
la Seine, au milieu de ce peuple Francais que fed tant 
ah i\e" I saw a Frenchman reading these words 

102 



THE GREAT NAPOLEON. 103 

audibly to his wife and child, whom he had with 
him, and while he did so the tears moistened his 
eyelids. 

It is but natural to any ardent admirer of the proud 
warrior, to feel himself there as in the presence of a 
great spirit that slumbers. It gratifies one's sense 
of justice, too, to see, at the right and left of him, 
grandly reposing the ashes of the two faithful friends 
who remained true to him in the dark hour of his 
adversity, Generals Duroc and Eertrand, the latter 
of whom shared with him the dying glory of his 
island solitude. 

Quitting the presence of the august dead, I pro- 
ceeded to the Hotel des Invalides, where a number 
of the brave comrades of the conquering hero still 
survive, some of them from seventy-five to eighty 
years of age ; in fact, none of the veteran invalids 
who enjoy the hospitality of this refuge appear to be 
less than sixty. 

When I entered their salle a manger, they were 
seated at breakfast around two long rows of circular 
tables, about ten men to each table. "With their neat 
attire, venerable aspect, and precise, orderly, and dig- 
nified deportment, these old men presented the ap- 
pearance more of a council of reverend senators at a 
state banquet, than of soldiers in the ordinary par- 
ticipation of their frugal meal. Many of them have 
lost an arm or a leg, and all are more or less disabled 
by wounds or infirmities, making a crutch or staff 
necessary to them in walking. They all have clean- 
shaved faces, except in some instances, where small, 
gray side-whiskers on the upper part of the cheeks, 



104 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

or, here and there, a thick gray moustache may he 
seen among them. All these things lend a charm to 
their assemblage that is difficult to describe. An 
interesting part of this building to the visitor, is the 
gallery containing the models in cast of all the prin- 
cipal cities and fortifications in France, some of 
them being perfectly level, like Paris, and others, 
like Grenoble, on the side of a towering mountain 
or the crest of some fearful gorge. There is also a 
miniature model of the Battle of the Bridge of Lodi, 
where Napoleon so eminently distinguished himself 
in the early part of his career ; and another of the 
storming of Sebastopol. 

One of the most noteworthy places to visit in 
Paris, is the Imperial Museum in the galleries of 
the Louvre, where hundreds of the most magnificent 
oil-paintings, by the old masters, may be inspected 
and studied daily by all who desire to do so. Here 
one may feast his eyes on such choice productions as 
the frescos by Guichard and Lebrun, the Triumph 
of the Earth, and the Triumph of the Water ; the 
Four Seasons, respectively by Callet, Durameau, 
Taravall, and Lagrance ; the Feast of Cana, and 
Mary anointing the feet of Jesus, by Paolo Veronese ; 
Charles the First, of England, by Vandyck ; the 
Conception, by Murillo ; and the Apotheosis of Ho- 
mer, by Ingress. Here, too, is the celebrated Galerie 
de Rubens, containing many of the most admired 
works of that great artist. None but the works of 
deceased masters are admitted into this gallery, which 
was chiefly formed by Napoleon, and enriched with 
the masterpieces of Europe. In the Musee Napoleon 



THE IMPERIAL MUSEUM. 105 

III. is a collection of antiquities from Syria, Mace- 
donia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor ; and in the Musee 
des Souverains are relics, consisting of armors, spears, 
battle-axes, swords, crowns, &c, that belonged to the 
different monarchs of France, as far back as the 
earliest periods. The Salle de V Emjpercur is devoted 
exclusively to articles relating to ISTapoleon I. , includ- 
ing the full-dress uniform worn by him on state occa- 
sions ; his saddle, sword, gloves, &c. ; his uniform 
which he wore at Marengo ; his sword of First Con- 
sul ; his horse's bridle-bit ; the hat he wore in the 
campaign of 1814, and the small round one which 
he wore at St. Helena ; besides numerous other things 
too trivial to mention. In the picture-galleries, scores 
of artists, ladies as well as gentlemen, may be daily 
seen engaged in copying the eminent productions, 
and it is interesting to compare the copies with the 
originals. In several instances I have found the 
similitude so exact as hardly to be able to distinguish 
the old from the new picture, and in such cases my 
American friend invariably wondered why the imita- 
tion should not be worth just as much as the original. 
Contiguous to the Louvre is the Palace of the 
Tuileries, the principal town-residence of the Impe- 
rial family. As it has thus far, during my stay in 
Paris, been occupied by the illustrious trio who con- 
stitute that family, with their numerous attendants, 
I have not been privileged to perambulate through 
its interior, with a curious eye on the regality thereof, 
of which report says many precious things. It looks 
imposing enough from the outside, to be sure ; and I 
suspect that it is possible to dwell within it with much 



106 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ease and comfort. Yet there is trouble inside of it, 
too, just now — even as it gets into the abode of more 
plebeian mortals ; for the Prince Imperial is sick, and 
Dr. Xelaton is in almost constant attendance. The 
little invalid has certainly very great expectations ; 
and if the principal one of them, that of recovery 
from what is threatening to be hip-disease, will only 
be realized, it will be a blessed thing for himself, and 
a great feather in the doctor's cap. Upon the whole, 
though, just at this juncture, I doubt whether that 
professional gentleman's position is greatly to be en- 
vied ; for his imperial patient might die, and then — 
like to a general after a lost battle — things might 
look rather squally with his future prospects. It is 
a pity that the boy has not a half dozen brothers and 
sisters to share his responsible situation, as they 
could possibly come in very handy some day, as a 
kind of collateral security for the Napoleonic dynasty. 
His mother, Eugenie, is a splendid woman to look at, 
and might displace many a younger one in the race 
for admiration ; but, unfortunately, she has thus far 
been somewhat defective in the greatest quality of 
her sex, one in which the reigning queens of England 
and Spain have so eminently excelled her ! The boy's 
father, old Mr. Napoleon, must be closely running on 
to sixty, and is beginning to look a little the worse 
for wear. Still, come to look at his physiognomy, 
there 's a good bit of authority enthroned there ; and 
his large Eoman nose appears as vigorously on the 
lookout for breakers ahead, or to smell out diplomatic 
schemes, as ever. "What the papers say about his 
precarious health is all fudge ; for to see the elasticity 



JARDIN MABILLE. 107 

with which he mounts his horse, and the ease and 
gracefulness with which he rides him at reviews in 
the Place du Carrousel, or the firm, yet muscular 
springiness of his gait in walking, must convince 
any reasonable person that the Emperor has still all 
the outward appearances of a pretty long lease on 
his sublunary life. 

Strolling along the Champs Ely sees, in the vicinity 
of the Jardin Mabille, one evening, I was tempted, 
by the wonderful renown thereof, to enter that en- 
chanted enclosure, and behold with mine own eyes 
the hidden glories it affords. Presently I was wander- 
ing over the labyrinthine paths of a beautiful grove 
of the choicest shrubberies and aromatic trees, that 
filled the air with delicious perfume and a fresh- 
ness that was truly charming ; amid all manner of 
curiously contrived fountains, that bathed voluptuous 
figures, in marble, of dolphins, naiads and Venuses, 
covering them with aqueous veils, in which the many- 
colored lights from hundreds of Chinese lanterns, that 
were tastefully arranged all around, trembled and 
glittered in phosphorescent effulgence, like a shower 
of diamonds and rubies and emeralds in the full 
blaze of the noon-day sun. Erom the more central 
focuses of this bewildering splendor many little by- 
paths terminated in cosy half-concealed retreats, 
bowers, and grottos, where rustic seats were con- 
structed to afford comfortable resting-places, or senti- 
mental tete-a-tctes for the votaries of Cupid. 

Within an inner circle, in a pagoda of Oriental 
magnificence, were a string-band of musicians, dis- 
coursing such dulcet strains into the mellow night, 



108 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

that a concert of seolian harps could not have more 
entranced the soul with the dreamy and blissful 
imagery of sound. Within this magic circle, too, 
were figures in rustling silks, tripping along on the 
light fantastic toe, in the wildest coquetry of grace- 
ful flexibility, that should gratify the terpsichorean 
Muse in her most fanciful exactions. 

I seated myself by a table, in an arbor of trellis- 
work, thickly covered by the foliage of a creeping 
vine, and studied the scene before me with all the 
enthusiasm of a visionary soul. 

Presently there appeared, dispelling the solitude of 
my retreat, one of those sylph-like beings whom I had 
seen in the airy dance tilting with tiny feet the hats 
from their partners' heads. Panting with apparent 
physical exhaustion, she sank upon a seat at the op- 
posite side of the table, and exclaimed, in the most 
captivating vernacular: u Mon Dieul Tax une grande 
soif! " Moved by her distressed appearance, I made 
bold enough to ask whether I could serve her with a 
glass of water ; whereupon she gazed at me with a 
world of gratitude, and replied with a gushing ve- 
hemence of French eloquence: " Merci, merci Men, 
monsieur, maisje crois qu'un verre de vin me sauviez la 
vie." " Vous Vaurez immediatement, madame" re- 
sponded I with heedless precipitation, and ordered a 
waiter to produce the life-saving beverage required 
by the unnerved danseuse. 

She was beautiful as a houri, and the look of deep 
tenderness with which she accompanied her profuse 
expressions of thanks somewhat disconcerted my 
equanimity. Directly the wine arrived, and she 



AN AD VENTURE. 109 

drank down a goodly portion of a gobletful, with 
much apparent benefit to her sinking spirits. But, 
soon after, while she was yet sipping at a second liba- 
tion of the purple-tinted nectarine juice — as sip the 
muses from the fountains of Helicon — and lost as it 
were in a re very of a serious drift, a burly-looking 
Frenchman entered the arbor abruptly, and accosted 
her rudely, at the same time thrusting a piece of 
paper into her face, saying : " There, madam, is that 
bill of a hundred francs which you owe me for rent, 
and if you do not pay me immediately, you shall not 
enter your apartments again ; and I will seize upon 
your effects the first thing in the morning." 

Frightened and chagrined at this coarse informality, 
in the presence of a stranger too, and from a country- 
man, in the land whose politeness is set forth as an 
example to all other nations, she first upbraided her 
intrusive landlord ; but finding, from a responsive 
frown, that this would only tend to make matters 
worse, she implored him to grant her time until the 
following afternoon; that she was quite certain of 
receiving a remittance in the morning, and would 
then be enabled to meet his demand. 

The creditor was inexorable, and said that he had 
purposely followed her to this resort of pleasure and 
dissipation to convince himself of her luxurious 
habits, and insisted on being paid. At this she began 
to weep bitterly, and wrung her pretty hands with 
anguish, presenting a scene that was altogether pain- 
ful to behold. I could now endure the situation no 
longer ; all the impulses of a naturally philanthropic 
disposition were awakened within me, and I ventured 



110 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

to expostulate with this heartless creditor about the 
matter in question, with the hope of mollifying his 
stern and unfeeling purposes. He was an obdurate, 
hard-fisted old wretch, whose veins did not pulsate 
with the generous flow of the milk of human kind- 
ness ; and he continued as steadfast in his impor- 
tunities for the amount of his bill as any Shylock 
that ever harped upon a forfeited pound of flesh. 
" J.A, mon Dieu! " said the poor girl in distress, "if 
I only knew some kind, generous person to lend me 
this sum until to-morrow, when I should be amply 
able to refund it ; " then, as if endeavoring to over- 
come with a desperate plunge the reserve that had 
governed her thus far, she turned with an appealing 
look to me, and exclaimed : " Oh, sir, you see how 
this man has outraged my feelings. I have no 
friends here, and would not know where to go for 
the night ; but you, you are kind, sir, I see it in your 
face ; you are sure, sir, that you can safely trust to 
my integrity; you will lend me this paltry sum, will 
you not, dear sir? with your address, too, so that I 
may send the amount back to you — with my un- 
bounded gratitude — to-morrow afternoon, d-e-a-r 
sir." 

She looked honest ; her eyes were suffused in tears ; 
her cheeks crimsoned with conscious shame at her 
temerity ; her whole attitude was so gracefully im- 
ploring — and she certainly was very pretty. Un- 
doubtedly, thought I, it is my duty to relieve this 
poor, sweet lady from her embarrassment. " I will do 
it — yes, I will do it — come what may; by jingo! I 
will do it ! It is a precious comfortable thing to per- 



AN AD VENTURE. Ill 

form a kind action — makes a body sleep so soundly, 
gives one a good appetite, and does lots of agreeable 
things for you." Thus reflecting over the matter, I 
was about to take out my pocket-book and look for 
a hundred francs, when suddenly a hand came down 
with a heavy force upon my shoulder. I looked 
around — it was my American friend. " Are you 
going to make a darned fool of yourself? " said he, 
" don't you see that this is a regular game here — a 
common ruse — and that the fellow yonder is only a 
flunky, who operates in concert with the girl for half 
the proceeds ? Is this at all a likely place or season 
to be dunned by a landlord for rent ? Ha ! ha ! ha ! 
why, what a regular old greeny you are, to be caught 
with a lot of French chaff like that ! " I was thunder- 
struck ; could it be possible ? could such things be ? 
They evidently could ; for my American friend con- 
tinued to laugh immoderately; and while I could 
only see myself in the light of a benevolent benefactor, 
he, it was clear, could only look at me as a great 
simpleton. Aye ! and my friend's sagacity was not 
long in being proved ; for directly upon his interfer- 
ence with the affairs of the pretty tenant in default, 
the landlord turned ferociously upon him with, " Sacre 
bleu! que voulez-vous dire, monsieur?" "You mind 
your own business, mounseer," said my friend, con- 
fronting him with a defiant look, and not deigning 
to use the Frenchman's mother-tongue, " or I '11 give 
you such a dab in the eye that the blue around it 
will be anything but sacred to you." 

The fellow now spluttered out a lot of very heroic 
phrases, accompanied by suitable flashes of an ugly 



112 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 

pair of eyes, shrugging of shoulders, and clenching 
of fists. " Look there," said my American friend, 
" do you see that sergeant de ville f Now mizzle in- 
stantly, or I will place you under his tender protec- 
tion." No sooner did he see the public functionary 
pointed out to him, than he gathered himself up and 
prepared to leave. The fair damsel too, seeing her- 
self check-mated, dropped her troubled and injured 
look, and taking the arm of her terrible creditor, 
deigned to laugh, probably at my tender simplicity, 
and to scowl at my American friend ; then the two 
passed out of sight, and only figure in my mind now 
as it were a ridiculous dream. 

Farewell, for a while, to Paris. As a general thing, 
you have pleased me, but I must further go. I hesi- 
tated some time, whether I had not better devote all 
my time in Europe to this city ; but my American 
friend, to whom I confided the matter, and who 
sometimes addresses me in German, especially when 
he is in earnest, now opened on me with: " Was, 
der Henker! Soil man von dir sagen, du bist in Rome 
gewesen und hast den Papst nicht gesehenf That's 
what Smith and Jones and Brown and Mrs. Grundy 
will say to you, if you don't proceed farther. No, 
no, my lad, it will never do to get sea-sick for the 
sake of Paris alone." Enough, my friend, that argu- 
ment is unanswerable. I leave to-morrow, and you 
shall go wiih me. 



LETTER VII. 

THE CHAMPAGNE DISTRICT. 

EN ROUTE TO ZURICH.— THE CHAMPAGNE DISTRICT.— 
STRASBURG.—ITS CATHEDRAL.— THE WONDERFUL CLOCK. 
ASCENT OF THE STEEPLE, THE HIGHEST IN THE WORLD. 
INTERCHANGE OF COURTESIES WITH A BOSTONIAN — 
M Y AMERICAN FRIEND'S GHOST-POEM— THE MONUMENTS 
OF STRASBURG. — INDUSTRIAL HABITS OF THE PEOPLE.— 
OPPRESSION OF WOMEN— THE BLACK FOREST OF THE 
DUCHY OF BADEN— THE SCENERY.— CURIOSITIES OF 
FREIBURG. 

Zurich, Switzerland, June, 1867. 

LEAVING Paris, I passed through the District of 
Champagne, which is remarkable in nothing so 
much as in its contrast with the rich soil of Nor- 
mandy that I had traversed on my way from Havre. 
This I fancifully accounted for on the strength of the 
supposition, that if all the beverage which is drank 
for Champagne wine is grown in this country, then 
the poor soil is quite excusable in looking as parched, 
impoverished, and starved-out as it does. I had no 
previous idea that the delicious nectarine juice — so 
unctuous to the popular palate of the evening, and so 
melancholy on the popular brain of the following 
morning — grew upon vines as dwarfish as those I 
have seen ; but rather upon such as that which 
shaded Jonah, to say nothing of the grape that 
should rival the magnitude of the pumpkin. The 
moment we reached the district of Alsace, it was 

8 (113) 



114 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

observable in the greener and more advanced condi- 
tion of the fields, and the prettier villages of white- 
washed houses, that had at least been furnished 
with windows, which many of those in the reputed 
wine district we had passed were in want of. 

Arrived at Strasburg, the great and first object of 
interest was, of course, the Miinster, or cathedral, 
with its high dome and wonderful astronomical 
clock. The size of this cathedral is very great, 
being some hundred and eighty yards in length, and 
seventy in breadth. The style of its architecture is 
of the Gothic order, though not entirely so ; and it 
is doubtless surpassed in beauty by many other build- 
ings of less pretension. It has some of the richest 
painted glass windows of the fourteenth century 
that may anywhere be seen — one of which, in partic- 
ular, sparkles as though studded with the most pre- 
cious gems, and has colors that cannot be imitated at 
the present day. In the interior of the church, to 
the left of the altar, is the celebrated clock, whose 
ingenious workmanship is almost beyond the bounds 
of credibility. On the left side is a construction that 
shows the ecclesiastical calculation of time, and on 
the right the conjoint movements of the sun and 
moon ; below which is a globe exhibiting the course 
of the stars, before an almanac that is said to have 
a correct reckoning for a thousand years. Then 
follows a dial showing the diurnal time, above which 
the moon — the one half gilded, and the other half 
black — moves in perfect accord with that orb in 
the heavens ; so that at full moon it shows all the 
gilded surface, and at new moon but the faintest 



THE STRASBURG CLOCK. 115 

cycle of it. Once in twenty-four hours, when it is 
about to indicate twelve at noon, an angel strikes a 
bell, when another angel, to the left, immediately 
turns a sand-glass which he holds in his hand. Above 
these is Time, in the shape of a skeleton, which strikes 
a bell twelve times ; and this is surrounded by smaller 
figures, representing Infancy, Youth, Manhood, and 
Old Age, which respectively strike the quarter hours 
in rotation. From a niche, the symbolic figure of 
each day, as Apollo for Sunday, Diana for Monday, 
&c, steps out ; and from a niche near the top of 
the whole construction, figures of the twelve Apos- 
tles move successively forward, and pass in front of 
a representation of Christ, bowing as they do so. 
Meanwhile, during the time that the clock slowly 
strikes twelve, at every fourth stroke a cock, perched 
upon a tower to the right, flaps his wings, stretches 
his neck, and crows so loud and natural that the 
sound cannot be distinguished from that of the gen- 
uine barn-yard prototype, and reverberates through 
every nook and corner of the spacious edifice. This 
performance of the clock occurs only once every 
twenty-four hours, at mid-day, when a concourse of 
strangers is generally present to witness it. An old 
used-up bird of this description, that announced the 
sun at high meridian during more than three hun- 
dred and fifty years, is still on exhibition, together 
with many other curiosities, in the house once occu- 
pied by Erwin, the sculptor and architect of the 
church, and his daughter Sabina, who succeeded 
him in the work. By manipulating the intestine 
machinery of his roostership, he will yet flap his 



116 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

wings and stretch his neck ; but his larynx is broken, 
and he is voiceless forever. 

To "get up in the world" is one of the instinctive 
tendencies of the human family ; in accordance with 
which natural proclivity I now began my pilgrimage 
heavenwards in that ecclesiastical dome ; and I can 
say in very truth that the " way " was both " crooked 
and narrow." I was accompanied by a young gentle- 
man from Boston, and together we arrived at an ele- 
vation of three hundred feet, upon a large platform 
partly roofed over, where we could inspect the ma- 
chinery of the great clock, and where the keeper 
dwells, or rather roosts, in order to watch the place, 
and guide pilgrims further up, if they desire it. Here 
is also, at the visitor's disposal, a fine telescope, 
through which one can view the distant Schwarz- 
wald, the serpentine course of the Rhine, and the 
beautiful landscape all around for many miles in 
extent. 

On the chimneys of the city below, a great curios- 
ity are the storks' nests, of which there are some 
fifty, one having been in existence and inhabited by 
the same family of storks these twenty years. By 
the aid of the telescope the storks appear the size of 
large geese, generally four or five of them to a nest, 
standing calm, dignified, and motionless upon one leg. 
After having recovered our exhausted breath at this 
stage of the ascent, we renewed the journey, and soon 
arrived at another abutment, a hundred feet higher, 
where our upward tendency was abruptly blockaded 
by a bolted door — permission from the Mayor being 
necessary to proceed farther. As we had neglected to 



ON THE STIZASBUBG CATHEDRAL. 117 

obtain this permission, and as the running down 
after one was rather an uninviting task, why, there- 
fore this closed door presented quite an ugly obstruc- 
tion to onr rising ambition. But, fortunately, our 
guide the keeper was human, with a conscience not 
over-scrupulous, nor wedded to the Burgomaster's 
cause: so, through kindness of heart and the per- 
suasive eloquence of a franc-piece, he unlocked the 
intrusive portal, and bade us rise, follow him, and 
fear no danger. Thus encouraged, we ascended again, 
another ninety feet, through a turret of open work, 
so narrow and tortuous that it was impossible to bend 
our knees to any extent, but we had to draw our- 
selves up mainly by the hands ; and at one place, 
near the top, it was necessary to hang on absolutely 
outside of the steeple. The young Bostonian and 
myself crowded our bodies with much difficulty into 
the narrow cage at the top, directly under the cross 
that forms its highest pinnacle, — and then we were 
four hundred and ninety feet above the foundation 
of the church — higher than any other point raised 
by human hands in the known world, since the top 
of the pyramid of Cheops was shattered by lightning 
some years ago. Thus situated, I asked my com- 
panion how he felt. He replied, that he felt a little 
dubious about his identity, and, upon a look of in- 
quiry, continued, that he wonlcf like to know whether 
he was still an individual of the genus homo, or a 
weather-cock ; then abruptly changing the subject, 
he propounded the following question: "Have you 
ever been at Jerusalem?" I replied him, "Nay;" 
whereupon he responded, " I have just arrived from 



118 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

there, and have in my pocket a number of so-called 
Jerusalem agates ; accept one, sir, in commemoration 
of this interesting occasion." Taking from him the 
proffered precious stone, I asked him, " Have you 
ever been in a Pennsylvania coal-mine?" He an- 
swered me, "Never." Whereupon I drew from my 
vest-pocket a perfect little jewel of Peacock coal, and 
said, " Behold this carbonic beauty — of no intrinsic 
value, but glorious to gaze upon as a rainbow in the 
heavens. It was once as deeply imbedded in the 
earth as it is now elevated above it. Accept it, sir, in 
return for the little treasure you have given me." 
"Ah!" said he, "a black diamond is at all times 
worth more than a Jerusalem agate." 

As a matter of curiosity be it recorded, that on 
this occasion of eventful import my American friend 
had nothing to say. But when we had descended 
again into the body of the church, we found him after 
quite a search, leaning against a saintly-looking statue, 
writing with his pencil into his pocket-diary the 
following lines, which he said were a reminiscence of 
his childhood, recalled to memory by the sombre and 
ghostly atmosphere that pervaded the interior of this 
church : 

" That dreadful night I never will, — 
I never can, forget, 
When I did battle with a ghost, 
Whose shadow haunts me yet. 

I was a little shaver then — 

Some thirteen years or so — 
And that I was a valiant one 

This presently will show. 



A GHOST POEM. 119 

My bed was in the haunted room — 

At least so people said — 
But what cared I for haunted rooms, 

So I laid down in bed. 

My arms were coiled around my head, 

As I lay sleeping there ; 
When suddenly I screamed, sprang up, 

And met a ghastly stare ! 

Oh ! horror indescribable ! 

All scantily begirt, 
There stood a ghost — with nothing on — 

With nothing — but his shirt! 

I started back — he did the same, 

And this subdued my fear ; 
So I demanded tremblingly, 

'What is your business here?' 

I saw his lips move mockingly, 

But could not hear a tone; 
'Ill-mannered ghost! ' I fiercely cried, 

' I '11 thrash you all alone ! ' 

I struck a hostile attitude, 

The ghost, he did so too; 
We sparred — a dreadful pause, and then 

We pitched — the mirror through! 

The glass went smash — and there I stood, 

Victorious, I suppose ! 
But, oh ! with what a ruined fist, 

And what a bloody nose ! " 

Among the monuments of the city of Strasburg, 
that are worthy of mention, are those of General 
Kleber, who was born here, and suffered death at the 
assassin's hand, in the midst of his successes in Egypt ; 
and of Guttenberg, the inventor of the art of print- 
ing, who, although born at Mayence, carried on the 
principal part of his labors in this city. These 



120 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

monuments both adorn squares bearing their respec- 
tive names. 

Much might be written of Strasburg — of the 
church of St. Thomas, with its beautiful and very 
costly monument to Marshal Moritz of Saxe, by order 
of Louis XV. ; of the very complete museum of 
natural history ; of the enormous tobacco establish- 
ment, where the French government, with French 
generosity almost equal to that of our ci devant 
Southern chivalry, gives the preference of making 
cigars, snuff, chewing and smoking tobacco, to fe- 
males, of whom some five hundred work here for 
thirty cents a day, in an atmosphere charged with 
the seeds of pulmonary disease to such an extent, 
that I, who have used tobacco the latter moiety of 
my life, could not walk through these rooms without 
coughing and sneezing almost constantly. I never 
saw anything in my life that excited my indignation 
so much as this ; never anything like this, that I 
could only look upon as a murderous and criminal 
proceeding on an enormous scale ; and this in the land 
where civilization and education, polish and refine- 
ment — heaven save the mark ! — are reputed to have 
attained a greater perfection than in any other country. 

Oh ! a glorious country indeed ! where the men 
loaf about in idleness, decorated in motley soldier 
clothes, talking big, like ancient Pistol, of national 
grievances, wars, and bloodshed, while the women, 
in the proportion of three to every one man, work in 
the fields and on the dunghill, bareheaded, and under 
the scorching rays of a summer sun. I have seen it 
over and over again, and felt the blood rushing to 



FREIBURG. 121 

my brain at this gross indignity, this violence upon 
the laws of nature. There ! I did not mean to write 
all this ; but it 's honest, and I won't scratch it out. 
Much there is in this country that is truly charming 
and delightful ; but I cannot help raising my voice 
against that which is obnoxious to the finer feelings 
of, thanks be to God ! an American heart. 

About three miles south of Strasburg, on the op- 
posite side of the river Rhine, (which is here spanned 
by a handsome railroad bridge, and another of pon- 
toons,) is the town of Kehl, where I took the cars 
and proceeded to Freiburg, in the Grand Duchy of 
Baden. Here is the beginning of that chain of moun- 
tains which constitute the Black Forest, many of 
which, in towering and majestic proportions, are 
second only to the Alps. One of these, the Schloss- 
berg, bears about the same relation to Freiburg that 
the Sharp Mountain does to Pottsville — only that 
the former is about twice as high as the latter. On 
its loftiest point is a small pavilion, called by the 
people here the " pepper-box," from which there is a 
very extended view in every direction ; so that with 
a good glass, the steeple of the Strasburg Cathedral, 
though more than twenty miles distant, may be seen; 
as also many mountains of the Black Forest, whose 
tops are still covered with snow, such as the Belchen 
and the Feldberg. 

On the top of this Schlossberg there is also a cir- 
cular level field, called the Moon, where the students 
of the Freiburg University generally resort to tight 
their duels, for I understand that this barbarous 
practice is still in vogue here; though the first 



\ 



122 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

" scratch " generally terminates these rencontres. 
Beautiful roads wind in zigzag directions along the 
sides of this mountain, that are verdant with the 
rich drapery of the vine, and whence rises a spring 
whose water is as cold as ice, and has the reputation 
of great healing virtues hereabouts. The valley he- 
low is irrigated by a beautiful and swift stream, called 
the Dreisam, in which I caught, by permission, thir- 
teen splendid trout, from eight to ten inches in length, 
in about an hour and a half. The limpid water of 
this river is led in small streams through nearly all 
the streets of Freiburg, making of this city, in the 
summer season, an exceedingly fresh and agreeable 
place to reside in ; and I understand that many Eng- 
lish families with shattered or limited fortunes take 
advantage of the inducements of cheap living and 
delightful scenery that are here offered, to settle down 
as permanent citizens of the town. 

From hence I made a journey afoot through the 
Hollenthal, over the road that the unfortunate Marie 
Antoinette traversed on her way to Paris, previous 
to her marriage with the Dauphin, afterward Louis 
XVI. It is also the same pass that General Moreau 
took in his famous retreat, when pursued by the 
Archduke Charles, in 1796. 

This ravine is perfectly fearful, with its towering 
and overhanging rocks, some of which are hundreds 
of feet in height, and on the top of one of which are 
the ruins of the castle of the robber, Count Falken- 
stein, who was at one time the terror of the whole 
district. 

Freiburg contains a handsome monument to the 



THE INVENTOR OF GUNPOWDER. 123 

memory of Berthold Schwarz, the inventor of gun- 
powder. On one side of the pedestal is a bas-relief 
representing him in his laboratory, triturating the 
ingredients of gunpowder in a mortar, while on the 
opposite side another bas-relief depicts him in an 
attitude of great fright, gazing with well-expressed 
consternation on a volume of smoke emanating from 
the mortar, the pestle lying on the floor, the whole 
indicating an explosion. This base is surmounted by. 
a life-size statue of Schwarz. My American friend 
thinks it very questionable whether the inventor of 
gunpowder deserves a monument at all. 



LETTER VIII. 

ZURICH — SWITZERLAND. 

DESCRIPTION OF ZURICH. — THE UETLIBERG. — THE BAUR 
AU LAC HOTEL.— THE CHURCH-BELLS ON A SABBATH 
MORNING.— THE SCHOLASTIC INSTITUTIONS, &c— MEET- 
ING WITH ENGLISH TOURISTS. — AMUSING INCIDENTS.— 
IGNORANCE OF EUROPEANS ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS. — A 
LITTLE MORALIZING. 

Zurich, Switzerland, June, 1867. 

ZURICH, the Turicum of the Romans, a city of 
some twenty-five thousand inhabitants, without 
including those of the surrounding hamlets of the 
canton, endowed by nature with all the associations 
that can charm the eye and please the senses, lies on 
the northern shore of a beautiful lake that bears its 
name, and from which the emerald current of the 
river Limmat takes its source, passing directly after 
through the centre of the city. 

All along the shores of the lake, as far as the eye 
can reach, pretty Swiss cottages and magnificent 
villas seem to have rained down, once upon a time, 
so thickly they are sprinkled over the green swards 
and hill-sides hereabouts. On the east is a richly 
vine-clad slope, along which, about midway up, runs 
the " High Promenade," which formerly constituted 
the ramparts of the city. 

On the west is the majestic Uetliberg, from whose 
high altitude one may see far along the valley of the 

(1.24) 



ZURICH— S WITZERLAND. 125 

Rhine, with its cataract at Schaffhausen. To the 
northward is the dark chain of the Black Forest ; 
and in the direction of the south, the long line of the 
snow-capped mountains of the Alps. 

From the Uetliberg I have gazed westward to see 
the sun set ; and while he emblazoned the horizon in 
gilded glory, I have thought, what an optical illu- 
sion ! what a strange paradox in physics 1 that I 
should behold this sublime spectacle, yet not be able 
to see, through the thin air, that which is much 
nearer, and should be illumined radiantly by the bright 
light of Phoebus, namely, the associations of my own 
home — the dear old hills of Schuylkill, that are now 
doubtlessly attired in their bridal vestment of laurels, 
spruced up in gorgeous splendor, and jpineing under 
the excess of their perennial greenness. 

In a dreamy revery I remain gazing through that 
long vista of vacancy, until " darkness " comes again 
" over the face of the earth," when, turning, I behold, 
at the foot of the mountain, Zurich, like a thing of 
enchantment, brilliantly lighted by thousands of gas- 
jets ; so that between the star-lit vault of heaven 
above, and the gas-lit city below, that appears in the 
surrounding darkness like another sidereal region — 
when 

"Naught but the torrent is heard on the hill, 
And naught but the nightingale's song in the grove," 

I feel myself in a church, the like of which is not 
built by mortal hands, listening to a sermon, the like 
of which issues not from mortal tongue. Thus 
serenely occupying the hour of Vespers, I linger on 



126 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

until the evening wanes apace ; and as there is an 
anberge here, that extends its hospitality for lucre, I 
conclude to remain all night, breathe the rare atmos- 
phere so much nearer to the stars, and dream of a 
glorious sunrise in the morning. The morning 
comes ; but it is misty, and the sky is cloudy, and the 
sunrise is a failure. 

Somewhat disappointed and abashed, I descend 
again to the common level of ordinary life and 
habitations, arriving at my hotel with a right un- 
poetical appetite for breakfast. And this hotel is not 
the least of the attractions of Zurich. It exceeds, in 
romantic situation, princely elegance, and home-like 
comfort, any other that I have seen in Europe, not 
excepting the Grande Hotel at Paris. The building 
itself is a magnificent structure of granite-colored 
sand-stone, three stories high, and so large in extent 
that it has two hundred comfortable rooms for guests. 
Attached to it is a reading-room, with a fine library, 
and both European and American newspapers and 
periodicals, in numbers and selection second to none 
on the continent. There is also a fine billiard and 
smoking-room, and a large, extraordinarily splendid 
dining-room. 

At one end of the latter is a handsome fountain, 
whose many jets of water, issuing from curiously 
sculptured figures, shower a refreshing spray over a 
large variety of flowers and plants in great china 
vases artistically arranged, cooling the air, and 
making it redolent with delightful perfume ; while at 
the other end, on a raised balcony, an excellent band 
of musicians discourses harmoniously every day to a 



SWITZERLAND. — LAKE ZURICH. 127 

delighted audience of guests when seated to dinner 
at three long rows of tables that occupy the room. 
In front of the building is a garden, laid out with 
numerous gravelly walks, most excellently designed 
for promenades, through a profusion of flowers, shrub- 
bery, and trees, to the very edge of the water ; whence, 
from arbors and summer-houses, a fine view is pre- 
sented of the lake, whose water is of a light green 
color, and as clear as crystal, yet has a depth at some 
places, I am told, of thirteen hundred feet. 

Nothing is more enchanting than, on a Sabbath 
morning, to hear the music of the church-bells of 
Zurich and the many villages that surround this lake 
reverberating back from the mountain sides in regular 
waves of delicious melody ; or, in the evening, to see 
this placid water studded with innumerable small 
boats of light and jaunty proportions, under clean, 
white sails, skipping along coquettishly before the 
slightest breeze, and from which you may hear issu- 
ing, perchance, the dulcet strains of many flutes, or 

witness the silent rapture of ah ! I think that will 

do ; — going up that mountain has been a Jacob's 
ladder to me, and my visions and things are becom- 
ing quite angelic. 

Zurich stands pre-eminent as the most prosperous 
manufacturing city, as well as the literary centre, of 
Switzerland. Its scholastic institutions are numerous 
and of an excellent character. The Polytechnic 
School is a model of its kind ; and in the Medical 
University one branch, that of Microscopy, is taught 
by Professor Heinrich Frey, whose great work on 
this science is the text-book of Professor Rokitans- 



128 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ky's class, at Vienna, and who is probably the- ablest 
teacher now living, save, perhaps, Mr. Beale, of Eng- 
land, on that interesting and important branch of a 
thorough medical education. There is also a hospital 
here, through the various departments of which Pro- 
fessor Frey has kindly conducted me. It is a hand- 
some, new building, of granite, with airy and com- 
fortable wards ; and from the cooking department up 
to the treatment of the sick, the management seems 
to be of the best possible order ; and the percentage 
of mortality is comparatively small, owing, doubt- 
less, in a great measure, to climatic and other local 
advantages. 

This city has been the birth-place and subsequent 
field of labor of many eminent men, among which 
may be cited the names of Levater, Hess, Pestalozzi, 
Heinrich Meyer, the friend of Gee the, and many 
others. 

A botanical garden of some eight hundred different 
Alpine plants alone is situated here, and is well 
worthy of a visit. 

In a museum of old weapons are exhibited, among 
many interesting curiosities, the battle-axe of Zwingli ; 
and a bow which is represented as that with which 
Tell shot the apple from his son's head ; but I take 
the liberty to doubt the genuineness of this bow very 
seriously ; for it does not look to me like a thing with 
which it would be at all possible to shoot very straight. 
If the truth were always known, probably, many of 
the wonders and curiosities that are stared at, all 
over Europe, by admiring antiquaries, for francs and 
groschens and gilders, would dwindle into extraor- 



AMUSING INCIDENTS. 129 

dinar j characters of proxyship, and should be gazed 
upon with a huge grain of allowance. 

The United States are well represented here in the 
person of Mr. Page, a correspondent of the New York 
Tribune, who is exceedingly kind and attentive to his 
fellow-citizens sojourning at Zurich. 

With its fine scenery, healthy locality, and many 
other attractions offered by this city, it naturally be- 
comes an important landmark for travellers, many of 
whom may at all times be met here. 

Indeed, quite a number of English families have 
made their permanent residence here ; and an Ameri- 
can family from New York occupy — and have done 
so during a number of years — the most beautiful 
villa on the lake-shore, far excelling, in style and 
costly splendor, that of the ex-Queen of Naples, which 
is quite contiguous to it. 

Not the least interesting feature of a journey 
through Europe, is the constant and ever-changing 
opportunity that is offered for the study of charac- 
ters of different nationalities and conditions in life, 
and to observe the different opinions entertained by 
them. I was greatly amused the other day at an 
old English lady, with a strong cockney accent, who 
desired to know whether the " 'ay fever was as fatal 
in Hamerica as it is in Hingland ; " and after I had 
delivered my opinion on the subject, the husband — 
stern and consequential old pater familias — broke in 
with the rapturous declaration, that it was " very 
jolly to 'ear 'ow well a Hamerican can speak Hing- 
lish ; " but added, I thought a little reproachfully — 
9 



130 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

" they tell me that you carat make a good bitter- 
beer, because, you know, you 'aven 't the ops." 

A couple of young Londoners, who are " doing " 
Switzerland, were scudding about the lake in a little 
sail-boat, when, approaching the " frail bark " that I 
was rowing for exercise, one of them asked me 
whether we " ever had any yacht races in America? " 
Astonished at such a question, which, nevertheless, 
I took for a joke, I laughingly inquired what he 
thought of the Henrietta, alluding, of course, to the 
yacht of that name ; whereupon he rejoined that he 
hadn't the pleasure of her acquaintance; that she 
must be a German lady ; for if she was English, she 
would be called " 'Arriet." 

On explaining the matter to him, I found that he 
either did not know, or did not wish to know, any- 
thing about James Gordon Bennett, Jr., or his yacht, 
or anything else appertaining to the race across the 
Atlantic. 

Upon the whole, however, the English people make 
very pleasant compagnons du voyage ; and there are 
quite a number of them, just now, sojourning at the 
hotel I am staying at — the elegant and princely 
Baur au Lac. ^ot the least interesting pastime 
that we have among ourselves, is that afforded by 
our gathering in a social group, these beautiful twi- 
light evenings, in the garden at the edge of the 
lake ; where, comfortably disposed in rustic simpli- 
city along the grassy earth, or on rudely constructed 
seats, we indulge with unreserved and companionable 
pleasantry in lively conversation, merry jests, and 
spicy, humorous anecdotes, of the latter of which t 



AN AMUSING ANECDOTE. 131 

especially, my American friend has always a goodly 
stock on hand. Our English confreres are good lis- 
teners to Yankee yarns ; and he gets off, occasionally, 
some very eloquent efforts. 

Thus, but an evening or two ago, in relating an 
incident connected with a country debating-society 
in the far-off home beyond the sea, he threw him- 
self into a declamatory posture, and went on as fol- 
lows : " Gentlemen, there once flourished a fraternity 
of sages, young and old, distinguished collectively as 
' The Diagnothian Literary Society of Hellerstettle.' 
Hellerstettle is a village situated in one of the love- 
liest valleys of Pennsylvania ; and its principal fea- 
ture was dignified with the appellation of ' The 
Academy,' which flourished under the learned su- 
perintendence of Professor Wittyman. The school 
consisted of lads and lasses, varying in age from 
five to twenty-five years ; and in studies, from the 
English alphabet to anything under the sun, not 
beyond the limits of the human understanding. 
From the male department of this school was formed 
the aforesaid Diagnothian Literary Society. The 
Professor was pompous and high-wrought in his 
notions, and the thing that of all others he strained 
most after, was originality of thought. Probably to 
this end he suggested the strange question to be de- 
bated, " Is Man an Animal ? " and challenged the 
youngest doctor of the place to establish a reputation 
by proving the affirmative, if he could. The Doctor 
was an unassuming young man, but vain enough to 
believe that he would come off victorious on a ques- 
tion of this kind, and accordingly accepted the chal- 
lenge. Aye, he was even anxious to do so, as he de- 



132 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

sired to become illustrious iu the eyes of one with 
whom he had fallen desperately in love — one who 
was the fairest of the village — the pet and pride of 
the community in which she lived — and by far the 
best scholar of the ' Academy.' The evening ap- 
pointed for the debate at length arrived, and the 
Doctor hired a small boy to convey his text-books of 
authority in a wheelbarrow down to the school-house. 
There were Dunglison, Carpenter, Kirk and Paget, 
Locke and Koah Webster, all jumbled up together, 
and had probably never enjoyed so democratic a ride 
before. The room became crowded with the fashion, 
the beauty, the learning of the village. 

"All things being in order, the Doctor opened the 
debate in a calm, sensible, and logical way ; explain- 
ing how it could not be possible for man — being con- 
stituted of flesh and blood, of bone and sinews, and 
all the elements of other animals — to be anything 
but an animal himself. How all creation was divided 
into three kingdoms — the animal, the vegetable, and 
the mineral ; and that man, being neither of the lat- 
ter two, must of necessity belong to the former — 
unless, indeed, his worthy and learned opponent would 
1 acknowledge the corn, 9 "and own his relationship 
with cabbage-heads and small potatoes. Here a burst 
of laughter interrupted the speaker for fully a min- 
ute and a half. He then proceeded, submitting that 
it was a common custom, even with ladies, to con- 
sider some men as ' brutes ' and ' bears/ and, some- 
times, ' lions ;' to say nothing of the complimentary 
terms with which men sometimes refer to each other, 
as a 'sheep,' a 'mule,' a 'goose,' &c. In short, 
he went over the whole ground very fully, in a 



M. A. F. SPINS'A YARN. 133 

good-natured, and, what he deemed, a rational way ; 
and concluded by asking his friend to state what then 
man is, if not an animal ? During the speaker's ha- 
rangue, his little hits and witticisms were followed by 
an audible an 1 good-natured titter through the appre- 
ciative audien o ; and his eye wandered to the load- 
stone of his auctions, who, he perceived, was quite 
convinced that women, as well as men, are, after all, 
but mortal, yet glorious and most bewitching ani- 
mals. In fact, all his hearers appeared to take his 
view of the matter, without exception. But the 
Professor had not yet opened his battery of argument 
upon them ; and presently. there was to come a won- 
drous change over the spirit of that audience. He 
arose with the imposing grandeur of Ulysses, and 
commenced as follows: ' Mr, Chairman ! '—(the chair- 
man was aged eleven years, and could actually read 
words of three syllables) — ' Mr. Chairman," must 
man be an animal ? an animal? Who says he must ? 
My opponent? Has he the hardihood — the un- 
daunted, bare-faced, brazen hardihood to stand up, 
erect and unabashed, before God and this intelligent 
and philosophical assemblage, and be so base, so alto- 
gether bereft of shame, as to proclaim man an animal 
— a very animal ? though it be in express and direct 
contradiction of that Writ divine, which says, ' in 
phrases not equivocal,' that man is DUST? Does 
dust belong to the animal kingdom? Let the air 
take up the question— let America— let every corner 
of our continent resound — let the welkin burst with 
a tremendous ' JSTo !' And, sir, am I asked — deliber- 
ately asked the question, what is man, if not an ani- 
mal ? "Why, Mr. Chairman, man is the magnetic ele- 



134 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ment of the dynamic condition of the concentrated 
quintessence of the electrical affinity of the theistical 
presence with the sublunary chemistry of eternal and 
everlasting mortality ! Man, I say, is the auricular, 
perceptive, declamatory, odoriferous ideality of the 
innate spark of the highest and most exalted order 
of vital progressiveness I Man' (here he struck an 
attitude, as Forrest does in the Syracusan senate, 
grand and terrible to behold. — gentlemen ! have 
you ever heard Forrest ? No ? well, I pity you ; but 
to proceed) t Man,' said the Professor, ' is the cli- 
macteric handiwork of Jehovah! — the great phenome- 
non of creation ! — the spirituality of flesh, and the 
carnal embodiment of spirit ! Man an animal f Oh ! ' 
(the ' oh ! ' pronounced as Mr. Whitfield could, and 
for the power of which Garrick would have given a 
hundred guineas) " 0-o-o-oh I how REcreant ! how 
false to God! — how traitorous to his country! — how 
slanderous of all that 's chaste and lovely and divine 
must that man be who deems himself an animal ! Xo, 
Mr. Chairman,' (subdued and melancholy,) ' man is 
not an animal. Man, in short, is man — and nothing 
shorter.' 

" The Professor sat down amid the applause of the 
delighted multitude who had listened to his elo- 
quence, and were overwhelmed with the grand truths 
they had heard. And the poor Doctor departed, 
crestfallen and abashed, from the presence of such 
superior intellect, and not long after left the entire 
neighborhood ; not, however, without a head some- 
what muddled on the subject of ' man,' and a heart 
full of regrets on the subject of woman." 

This story of my American friend, and the manner 



INDIFFERENCE T AMERICAN AFFAIR S. 135 

in which, he recited it, was almost as good as a circus 
— clown, acrobats, riders and all — and raised him 
wonderfully in the estimation of our British com- 
panions. 

Generally speaking, little interest is taken by Eu- 
ropeans in matters of any national import concerning 
the United States. I have heard more palaver about 
Maximilian and the miserable Mexican affair, in a 
single day, both in France and Switzerland, than of 
our four years' war, during all the time that I have 
been here. A French gentleman at Paris, and really 
an intelligent man, to whom, in the course of con- 
versation, I mentioned the battle of Gettysburg, act- 
ually did not even recollect the name of that great 
and decisive conflict ; but apologetically remarked, 
that we had fought so many battles, he had forgotten 
their names. I asked him whether he would not 
suspect a man — no matter in what part of the world 
he lived — to be excessively stupid, who did not 
know, at least by name, the battles of Waterloo, 
Solferino, or Sadowa ? "Oh! certainement, monsieur ; 
mais c'est une otre chose ;" and I really don't believe 
that he took my pointed inference at all. Whereas, 
our newspapers contain one or two columns of tele- 
graphic news from Europe every day, here the whole 
subject is passed over with a simple announcement 
of the price of gold, five-twenties, and cotton ; and 
this is the case with all the journals, without a sin- 
gle exception, no more being found in the London 
Times and Paris Moniteur than in the humblest sheet 
that is published. In scientific attainments we have 
men that are equal to any in Europe ; yet I never 
hear their names mentioned in their lecture-rooms 



136 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

here, or see them referred to in the hooks of the 
Europeans; whilst we, on the contrary, are con- 
stantly paying tributes of courtesy wherever they 
are due, and sometimes where they are not. 

It is all well enough to take a look at their old 
ruins and castles and leaning towers ; to admire 
their painting and statues ; to appreciate their pretty 
gardens and groves, and artificial fountains and cas- 
cades ; to climb up their church-steeples and arches 
of triumph ; and lastly, to enjoy with one's whole 
soul, all the beauties of nature — the magnificent 
scenery, such as it is presented around Zurich and 
the rest of Switzerland, with the creation of which 
neither kings nor people nor governments have had 
anything to do. But to institute a comparison of all 
this with our own great country would be simply 
and emphatically ridiculous. 

Let us not be blind to our own defects ; our little 
sprinkling — to draw it mildly — of party corruption ; 
perhaps our inferior police-system ; our careless rail- 
road management; our — our — well, that is about 
all ; I cannot think of anything else in which we 
stand behind aught that I have thus far seen in 
Europe. This I do know, that if any citizen of the 
United States becomes a little demoralized — a trifle 
dissatisfied with matters and things at home — let 
him come abroad here, and — how it happens I am 
not prepared to say — but a short time will suffice to 
bring him to his senses. 

Notwithstanding all which, I shall not soon forget 
this elysian retreat of Zurich, or the felicitous home 
that may be enjoyed at the Hotel Baur au Lac. 



LETTER IX. 

SWITZERLAND. 

UP THE LAKE.— OVER THE ALBIS TO ZUG.—A LITTLE DASH 
AT HA YMAKING.—THE SIHL RIVER.— AN INCIDENT.— THE 
ROSSBERG.— THE RIG I MOUNTAIN.— A SUNSET AND SUN- 
RISE.— A FA MIL Y SNO WED UP ON THE MOUNTAIN E VER Y 
YEAR.—L UCERNE.— THE GREA T ORGAN— FL UELEN.—ALT- 
DORF, THE HOME OF TELL.— THE ST. GOTTHARD PASS.— 
SNOWBALLING.— GRAND SCENERY.— BACK TO LUCERNE. 

Interlaken, Switzerland, June, 1867. 

ON board the pretty little lake steamer Concordia,. 
I left Zurich, in Switzerland, and proceeded to 
Horgen, about nine miles up, and on the southern 
shore of the lake. 

From here I journeyed afoot over the Albis chain 
of mountains to Zug, a distance of about sixteen 
miles ; nor, in view of the beautiful scenery, the health- 
ful recreation, and the cheerful incidents associated 
with this trip, did I have the least occasion to regret 
the small amount of labor and fatigue incurred thereby. 

From the top of the Albis Mountains, the prospect, 
embracing Zurich, the entire lake, with the numerous 
villas that adorn its gradually sloping green shores, 
interspersed here and there with beautiful vineyards, 
groaning under the promise of a rich harvest, was 
one that the eye loved to dwell upon ; nor would it 
be satiated with a single enjoyment, but ever and 
anon I would rest me at full length upon the green 
sward, and feast upon the luxury spread out before 

(137) 



138 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

me, to sa y nothing of sundry bits of bread and cheese, 
by way of dessert. About one third of my journey 
extended along, and in plain view of the river Sihl, 
that runs dancing and skipping playfully through 
crags and ravines, with every imaginable inducement 
for the lively and wily trout, until it empties itself 
into the lake at Zurich. Here, too, I beheld the first 
really fine Swiss barn, of which I had heard so much, 
and which, up to this time, I had looked for in vain, 
so that I almost began to suspect them to be a mythi- 
cal institution. 

The farmers were busily employed at haymaking, 
and they looked so cheerful and happy withal, and 
their dwellings so refreshing and attractive, that I 
resolved to abide a day or two with one of these 
families, and participate with its members a short 
paroxysm of rural pleasure and fatigue. With this 
object I singled out a lovely and enticing home, close 
by the river side ; and after a little difficulty in satis- 
fying its inmates that I was not, after all, a travelling 
vagabond, I was received in their midst, and re- 
mained " in clover " for the following two days. The 
first of these I gambolled in the field, armed with a 
rake, as blithely as my untrained nerves would let me. 
And there were pretty assistants, with short frocks 
and blue checkered bodices ; plump, red cheeks, and 
brawny, bare arms, with laughing eyes dancing 
merrily in their orbits, and a deluge of hair tacked 
up snugly about their heads. These pretty charmers 
cast an obliviousness over all that was tiresome in 
the day, though the sport of it made the great beads 
of perspiration start upon our brows. It is true this 



TR UT FISHING. 139 

was a little romantic, considering all things, but I 
needed no tonic to promote an appetite, nor bitters to 
help digest that which I ate for supper. Upon the 
whole, should I live many years amid the home-circle 
of my own loved ones, it is not likely that I will soon 
forget the day when I was haymaking in Switzerland. 
On the second day, with the rod and fly, I mean- 
dered up the stream, "enticing the finny tribe to en- 
gulph in their dentriculated mouths a barbed hook 
upon whose point was affixed a dainty allurement." 
This was attended by a little vexation ; for the 
'tarnal things would not bite in conformity with my 
ideas of the Swiss law of nature ; though with per- 
severance, and by dexterously following up every 
nibble that came along, I managed, toward sun- 
down, to return to mine host, Herr Burkli, with a 
right presentable mess of trout. On the third day, 
for the temptation to abide there during the period 
of another diurnal revolution was irresistible, I lent 
my feeble aid in pitching and tramping hay upon the 
wagon and on the mow, during the process of haul- 
ing it from the fields by the help of a very philo- 
sophical and sedate-looking yoke of oxen. When all 
the space allotted for hay in the capacious barn was 
thoroughly crammed, we stacked the remainder in a 
contiguous field, an operation that afforded us any 
quantity of practical joking, and all manner of genu- 
ine fun. Down we packed it — about a dozen of us, 
men and women — tugging and sweltering away — 
clipping it from one place, and filling up another ; 
bouncing about like great india-rubber harlequins, 
tumbling over and getting all tangled up with one 



140 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

another, pinching, by mistake, blue marks into the 
aforesaid brawny arms and rosy cheeks, our com- 
mingled voices producing a grand confusion, — an inco- 
herent medley of boisterous merriment. Up it went, 
the great round pillar of hay, till it was as high as 
any .house ; and deviating a little from its perpen- 
dicular, it looked for all the world like a cheap imi- 
tation of the leaning tower of Pisa. Oh ! but it was 
a privilege, after that, to partake of the frugal even- 
ing fare that was spread over the spotless cloth of 
linen, on the long, plain table that stood on the thatched 
portico of the cottage for the occasion. How deli- 
cious was the new-drawn milk ! you felt that the 
least change in the magic laboratory of the body 
would convert every draught of it into structure of 
new and bounding vitality. It was muscle and nerve 
in a rich state of solution, which, in flowing along 
the avenues of the system, precipitated the requisite 
materials here and there, even as the failing parts re- 
quired them. 

And the well-baked bread of rye — the blessed 
staff of life — tasted never so sweetly invigorating 
as at that memorable repast. Dainty pastries, and 
elaborate compound dishes there were none, but the 
bread and milk, some golden cheese with numerous 
oily cells, some generous slices of cold roasted mut- 
ton, an accompaniment of potatoes and leek, and 
lastly, an abundance of blushing cherries, constituted 
the entire meal ; but, nevertheless, in the estimation 
of its partakers, seasoned as it was by the balmy even- 
ing breeze, loaded with the delightful aroma of the 
new-mown hay, this was a banquet worthy of the gods. 



A KNOTTY QUESTION SOLVED. 141 

The following morning I departed, not without 
feelings of regret, from that excellent family, and 
continued my travel through the still beauteous 
country that lay before me. Having passed a num- 
ber of statues of the Virgin Mary, and representa- 
tions of the Crucifixion, I inquired of a countryman 
whom I passed whether the Catholic religion was 
prevalent in that section. He answered me, " Yes, 
sir, it prevails this side of yonder bridge that you 
crossed some time ago." 

Here was a line of demarcation, a solution of a 
knotty question, that was exceedingly graphic and 
tangible. Preachers have defined " the Church," and 
authors of great concordances and commentaries ex- 
pounded it, without ever letting the world into the 
secret, that all the difference between two denomina- 
tions is a geographical one, of rivers and bridges, 
over which it is the easiest matter in the world to 
pass from one side to the other, from Protestant to 
Catholic, and vice versa. "Was not this a sage, to be 
sure ! And his countenance was expressive of such 
a thorough conviction that it is impossible for per- 
sons with either of the two persuasions just mentioned 
to exist on the wrong side of that bridge, that if I 
had catechized him, "What is the difference between 
Protestantism and Catholicism ? " 1 believe in my 
heart he would have answered me, " The river Sihl, 
sir ! " And I had walked over the bed of this river, 
wading from right to left, back and forth, catching 
trout on both sides of the median line, without pre- 
judice or partiality, and without ever dreaming how 
seriously inconstant and vacillating I was on such a 



142 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

solemn subject. I have related this incident as an 
illustration of the abrupt manner in which not only 
religious faith, but dialect, dress, habits, and customs 
of life take a change, not simply in different nations, 
but in sections of the same nation ; so that in a day 
the traveller may encounter quite a number of these 
changes without getting outside of the jurisdiction 
of a single prince. 

Arrived at Zug, I sauntered through the puzzle 
of streets which distinguish that rather antiquated- 
looking place ; and the principal object that there en- 
gaged my attention was a band of wandering min- 
strels that went tooting through the town, and 
heralded a tight-rope and other gymnastic perfor- 
mances that were to take place in the evening. 

There were fi.\e of them, playing respectively on 
drum, fife, cymbals, clarionet, and bugle ; and at 
every street-corner a halt was made, when they out- 
raged the great vault of heaven with the loudest and 
most deafening noise that ever tore time and tune 
into tatters and shreds. Every man of them was 
another Jem Baggs, of the wildest description, who 
evidently knew "the value of peace and quietness, " 
and having the advantage over the people, could not 
think of " moving" for any trifling consideration. 
He of the drum, almost hidden from view behind 
that large wooden cylinder, would pound away at its 
leather head with such an earnest industry that every 
thump he gave it seemed to split the air, and smote 
upon one's auricle like the blasting of a rock in some 
deep mountain chasm. 

After every painful paroxysm from this violent 



LAKE ZUG. 143 

quintette had subsided into a humming sound, that 
was still undulating in the air, like that of a blue- 
bottle fly in a paper pill-box, then the head man 
issued his proclamation of the forthcoming perform- 
ance, in a stentorian voice scarcely less penetrating 
than the shrill notes of his own cracked and rusty 
bugle. I will warrant me that every citizen of the 
good old town knew what was to be in the evening. 
Whether they all flocked to the performance, as they 
did to the street-doors of their houses to hear these 
terrible minstrels play, it is not in my power to place 
upon record, as I did not remain to see. 

I took a small steamer that plies on the pretty lake 
bearing the name of the town just mentioned, and 
which, though only about eight miles long and two 
wide, has, nevertheless, places over fifteen hundred 
feet in depth, and is inhabited by some of the finest 
and largest fish that may be found in any of the 
Swiss lakes. Proceeding in a southerly direction, we 
landed at Aart, a small town, at the foot of the 
mountain Eigi, and near the famous Rossberg, the 
summit of which, in 1806, being of a calcareous geo- 
logical structure, and saturated with the unusually 
protracted rains in the spring of that year, precipi- 
tated itself down into the beautiful valley beneath, 
covering three villages, and burying alive some five 
hundred human beings ; filling up, also, with its 
enormous debris, the one third of Lake Lorberg. 

Here I undertook the steep ascent of the Eigi 
afoot ; and after nearly four hours of uninterrupted 
and toilsome walking, had the satisfaction of gaining 
the summit just in time to witness what is termed, 



144 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

by those who are posted, a very fine sunset. On the 
following morning, too, at a few minutes past three 
o'clock, there were people gathered to the number 
of more than a hundred — people from all parts of 
the world, and for the most part entire strangers to 
each other, but who, cold and shivering, though 
bundled up in their shawls and bed-blankets, united 
here in one common worship to the sun. And I 
would love dearly to describe the scene, when he 
arose in all his morning majesty before our enraptured 
vision ; but it would need an angel and an eagle's 
quill, dipped in alternate liquids of flame and dia- 
mond and amber, to depict the glory of that heavenly 
light, as its effulgent beams appeared in lanceolet 
points, darting high into the azure firmament ; then 
spreading far and in all directions along the horizon, 
and gilding with radiant splendor the snow-crowned 
Alps, that here extend as far as the eye can reach; 
and among which the echoing notes of the Alpine 
horn, greeting the new-born day, joyously reverberate 
"from peak to peak, the rattling crags among," long 
after they have ceased to issue from the instrument. 
From this summit, a distance of thirty miles can be 
seen on a clear day, in every direction of the com- 
pass ; and the panorama that is presented of the long 
chain of Alps is not equalled from any other acces- 
sible point. The number of pilgrims who ascend the 
Rigi every season for the purpose of enjoying the 
view it affords, is very great. But hundreds who 
make the tiresome journey are sorely disappointed 
in the end thereof; for clear days — when there is no 
fog or cloud around this mountain top — are the ex- 



THE RIGI MOUNTAIN. 145 

ception, and not the rule. This feeling of disappoint- 
ment is graphically set forth in two verses which 
one of this class inscribed in the strangers' register 
that is kept in the hotel on the top, yclept the Rigi 
Kulm: 

"Seven up-hill, weary miles we sped, 
The setting sun to see; 
Sullen and grim he went to bed, 
Sullen and grim went we. 

"Seven sleepless hours we tossed, and then, 
The rising sun to see, 
Sullen and grim we rose again, 
Sullen and grim rose he.'* 

The hotel is a fine structure, and of sufficient capa- 
city to accommodate several hundred visitors. All 
the timber and material of which it is formed, as well 
as the vast quantity of provisions that is consumed, 
when thronged with guests during the summer 
months, were and are carried up on the backs of 
pack-mules, as no team can possibly ascend. It is 
not practicable to descend this mountain in the 
winter; though I am told of two individuals who 
suffer themselves to be snowed-up on its top every 
winter, in order to take care of the hotel and of the 
cattle. They abide there in perfect solitude during 
four months of the year, effectually imprisoned on 
that cold, dreary peak, with no society but that of 
the eagles and the stars. And, astonishing to relate, 
these two persons are actually man and wife ! They 
must be either exceedingly fond of each other, or 
woefully put out with the rest of mankind. Before 
winter sets in, they are provided with all the stores 

10 



146 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

and necessaries of life to support them comfortably 
until the following spring ; but what either would do 
in the case of sickness or death of the other it is im- 
possible to conjecture. 

"0 Solitude! where are the charms 
That sages have seen in thy face? 
Better dwell in the midst of alarms, 
Than reign " on this very high place ! 

I descended on the side of the mountain^ overlook- 
ing the lake of the Four Cantons, and arrived, after 
two and a half hours of labor, more telling on limb 
and muscle than the climbing up had been, at the 
little town of Weggis, whence, with a steamer, I pro- 
ceeded to Lucerne. This is a city most delightfully 
situated, facing from the north the most interesting 
of all the Swiss lakes, with the towering, cloud-capped 
Pilatus to the right, and the majestic Rigi to the 
left. Both of these mountains appear in close prox- 
imity, and stand there like colossal giants, holding 
a jealous guard over the city — awful in appearance, 
and monstrous in proportion — as though they might 
be the great-great-grand-parents of the Pillars of 
Hercules. 

But of the town itself there is not a great deal to 
be said, except of the truly beautiful and romantically 
situated Lion Monument, erected, or rather chiselled, 
into the side of a rock, to the memory of the Swiss 
Guard who stood and suffered in defence of the king 
at the commencement of the Revolution in France ; 
except also of the great organ in the Stiftskirche, 
said to be the largest in the world — save what my 
American friend calls " our Boston Blower " — and 



LUCERNE. 147 

which does, in reality, produce a monstrous deal of 
noise ; too much, in fact, to enable a body to distin- 
guish the music. Thus I heard what at first I took 
to be the Anvil Chorus from Trovatore, with about 
a dozen anvils, half a dozen of cymbals, fifty clarionets, 
and a hundred trombones thrown in promiscuously ; 
when I was agreeably surprised to find out that it 
was Old Hundred, and not the Anvil Chorus after 
all. I had never heard that solemn, time-honored air 
produced in such an exceedingly lively and boisterous 
manner before ; and an English friend at my side 
suggested, it was " Jolly nice for Hold Und red, wasn 't 
it, now ? " 

Socially, I cannot say much in favor of Lucerne. 
Being a central point for travellers in Switzerland, 
and especially patronized by the English aristocracy, 
the people, generally, have been spoiled, and manifest 
a ravenous eagerness for " the lucre " that detracts 
gravely from the charm of the reputed virtue and 
simplicity of the Swiss populace. And, with all this, 
the landlords of hotels receive you with such an air 
of insufferable condescension — as though in accept- 
ing your napoleons and sovereigns they were doing 
you a particular favor ; yet I am free to confess that 
I cannot see it in that light. 

On the steamer Gotthard I made a voyage over 
the entire length of this lake, a distance of some 
thirty miles, to Fluelen, situated at its extreme 
southern point. The latter portion of this voyage, 
that between Brunnen and Fluelen, is particularly 
interesting on account of the picturesque grandeur 
of the scenery that here environs the lake on both 



148 ACE OSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

sides. Here, also, is pointed out to the stranger the 
Tellscapelle, a small chapel, erected over the great 
flat stone on which Tell sprang from the hoat when 
Gesler was taking him a prisoner to his castle at 
Kiissnacht. From Fluelen I proceeded a short distance, 
per omnibus, to Altdorf, where the famous trial of 
Tell, shooting an apple from his son's head, occurred ; 
or, at least, is said to have transpired. . A statue of 
Tell is situated on the spot where he should have 
stood on that eventful occasion, and a fountain on 
the place where, it is said, the boy was stationed — the 
two being u hundred and fifty feet apart. Formerly 
a linden tree, against which the boy stood, occupied 
the place of the fountain. <* 

A short distance from here is Burgeln, the home 
and birth-place of Tell. On the site of the house 
where he was born, is built a small chapel to his 
honor and memory, the interior walls of which are 
embellished with imperfect, highly colored paintings 
descriptive of the historical incidents of the era in 
which Tell lived ; and with oddly worded, old- 
fashioned, proverbial rhymes, in which the grotesque 
and sublime are jumbled together with a reckless 
disregard of style, propriety, and even sense. On the 
outside the chapel is embowered with rose-bushes 
that were in full bloom at the time of my visit, con- 
tributing greatly to the effectiveness of the scene. 

I now commenced a pilgrimage through the St. 
Gotthard Pass, that brought me in view of scenery 
more replete with awful sublimity, and the fulness 
of God's majesty in His works, than any I had ever 
beheld. Upward and onward led the road, until in 



ANDERMATT. 149 

the region of almost perpetual snow, and yet the tops 
of the mountains appeared as far away as ever. 
Winding along the gorges, I frequently seemed to be, 
as it were, in a kettle, of which overhanging rocks, 
looming high into the clouds, constituted the sides, 
and whence I could see no farther than about a hun- 
dred yards in any direction, except skyward. Some- 
times, close by the road, over its uneven, stone-strewn 
bed, shot with the swiftness of an arrow on the wing, 
the torrent which constitutes the river Eeuss ; then 
pitching down into the abyss, from crag to crag, leap- 
ing in wild madness over the rocks, rushing onward, 
dashing forward, boiling, seething, and foaming, as 
it were in a wild rage — blindly, like a suicidal element 
that gloried in its own destruction — furious, like a 
harpooned whale, precipitating itself upon every ob- 
stacle, and spirting a white column of spray into the 
clouds. Around an angle of rocks it would be heard 
as in the distance, like the muttering of low thunder ; 
then it would suddenly appear again, rushing along 
with a rattling noise, like that of a tornado in a forest 
of dry leaves. 

ISTear Antermatt this river is spanned for the eighth 
time by a bridge that is here called the Devil's 
Bridge. The new structure has not been many years 
in existence ; but the old one still remains by its side, 
and somewhat' lower down in the ravine. Here was 
the scene of a terrible conflict between the French 
and Austrians, on the 14th of August, 1799 ; though 
it is difficult to conceive how a battle was possible, 
between any number of opposing forces, in a place 
like this. 

From a short distance above the bridge to an 



150 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

equally short space below, the river takes a fall of 
several hundred feet — not in one pitch, but by- 
regular gradation, as it were, rushing down a long 
granite staircase. The fall from its source to Ander- 
rnatt is two thousand feet, and from thence to Fluelen 
three thousand feet more. Here the road, by many 
zig-zag turns, ascends Mount Gotthard proper. It 
was three more hours' walk to the Hospice on the 
top; but, as there was quite a company of us from 
America, England, and France, that had gathered in 
the hotel at Andermatt, we enjoyed ourselves hugely, 
as though we were a parcel of real brothers and 
sisters (for there were ladies among us) and not at all 
like casually met strangers. 

There was a large drawing-room, that contained a 
piano — not exactly like Steinway's best; still it 
would yield a sound, and was in tolerable good tune. 
To this my American friend seated himself, and 
played the Star Spangled Banner with an emotion 
that indicated his whole soul to be in his fingers just 
at that time; and what American heart is there 
that would not bound with rapture at the eloquence 
of that music, situated as we were then? The fol- 
lowing morning the whole company proceeded in joy- 
ful procession up the mountain to the Hospice. There 
arrived, we were in the midst of the regions of snow, 
that lay in places to the depth of six or eight feet. 

Can anything exceed the novelty of a snow-balling 
battle in mid-summer? Now I '11 warrant me, that 
there is not a plucky, high-spirited fellow in the 
whole of our good country who would not look upon 
it as one of the proudest epochs of his life to indulge 
in such a set-to, and feel the reactionary tingle in his 



SNOWBALLING ON TEE ALPS. 151 

hands, after laboring thus in the snow during the 
genial period of the dog-days. It was while our glee- 
ful company was at the Hospice of St. Gotthard, that 
some one proposed a pitched battle at snow-balls; 
which was received with a shout of approbation. 
Directly we were divided into two belligerent parties, 
with four gentlemen and two ladies on each side, 
and the manner in which we pelted away at each 
other was a caution to old folks, I promise you. My 
American friend said that it was the darlingest 
shindig he had participated in for many a long day; 
and he hammered away with the cold missiles and a 
hearty good-will at his antagonists, laughing and 
shouting in German, English, and French alternately, 
sprawling on the snow, leaping over deep crevasses — 
dodging the icy pellets from every direction, and 
cutting the most ludicrous gyrations in the air. Oh! 
but he was jolly, was my American friend ; and when- 
ever he succeeded in planting a sockdolager plump 
into the bread-basket of the fat Englishman, or the 
lean Frenchman, who were of the party, then his 
delight knew no bounds ; and he would laugh you, 
up there upon the mountain height, with such a joy- 
ous, merry peal, that would call up the echoes from 
those Alpine caverns for miles and miles 'around. 

At length, however, our social company dispersed 
themselves again as suddenly and unceremoniously 
^as they had met. The most of them went over on 
the other side into Italy ; and a few, myself among 
the number, retraced our steps to Andermatt, where 
we remained over night ; and thence took the dili- 
gence to Fluelen, and from there the steamboat back 
to Lucerne. 



LETTER X. 

SWITZERLAND. —BERNE. 

THE CITY OF BAR EN, OR BERNE. — DERIVATION OF ITS 
NAME.— BEAR PEN.— THE PREDILICTION OF THE CITIZENS 
FOR BRUIN— ASCENT OF A GLACIER OF THE ALPS. — AN 
ALPINE GROTTO. — STORM UPON THE ALPS.— A NIGHT 
SPENT IN A CHAMOIS-HUNTER'S HUT— THE DESCENT. 

Geneva, Switzerland, June, 1867. 

IN" the first of these letters allusion was made to a 
bear, who was a deck-passenger on our steamer ; 
and in the second to the bears of the Jardin des 
Plantes, Paris ; so that I almost feel ashamed to 
approach the subject again, for fear of being sus- 
pected of being as fond of it as Davy Crockett was ; 
or of having rubbed bear's grease into my head until 
it " struck in," and affected the brain. But I have 
recently strayed into such a nest of these animals as 
would put Wall Street to the blush, even on the days 
when the bears are in the palmiest ascendency over 
the Bulls ; so that I am bound to ventilate the theme 
once more, sincerely hoping that the indulgent reader 
will bear with me throughout the effort. 

The ursine family, then, that now engages our at- 
tention is the entire city of Biiren. Modern people 
call it Berne ; but that is an unpardonable mutilation 
of the name - a degeneration of Biiren, which is the 
German word for bears. The way in which this city 

(152) 



ORIGIN OF BERNE. 153 

came by such a name was as follows : In its incipient 
state, when it was yet a nameless village, Duke Ber- 
thold von Zahringen, attended by a number of his 
courtiers, entered upon an extensive chase, in what 
was all about here a vast and mountainous wilder- 
ness and publicly proclaimed that the name of the 
animal that was first slain should thenceforward be 
that of the newly founded village. The first victim 
being a bear, he was carried forth in great pomp and 
circumstance; and the theretofore humble flecken 
was triumphantly baptized, and denominated Bkren. 
From that time to the present day the bear has been 
the coat-of-arms, the symbolical representative, the 
pet, and the idol of the people who inhabit this place. 
I say, the idol ; for I do not believe that heathens 
ever worshipped bulls or snakes, fire or water, wooden 
images or golden calves, with half the zeal and adora- 
tion that is here lavished upon these interesting and 
gentle quadrupeds. 

At the western end of the town is situated a hand- 
some pen, (I wish I knew a prettier, more romantic 
name for it — but I do n't,) which is about twelve feet 
deep, of a circular form, perhaps forty feet in diame- 
ter, walled up with fine granite stone from the bottom 
of the pit to some three feet above the ground out- 
side, and forming a parapet - over which persons can 
gaze into the interior of the rotunda, to admire the 
gambols of the playful creatures within. This domi- 
cile being divided into two compartments by a cen- 
tral wall, is occupied by two separate families of 
bears. I saw the parental members of these families ; 
but on inquiry about their tender ofi-shoots — their 



154 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

little responsibilities, (great respect is necessary in 
every allusion to the bears,) I was informed that the 
cubs — I mean the dear little bear-babies — were in 
the (n)ursery, an adjoining apartment; and found, 
indeed, that they reversed the maxim appertaining 
to little boys and girls, in this — that they were heard, 
and not seen. These bears are enormously wealthy ; 
for no rich man, who hopes for a name beyond the 
grave, would think of dying without remembering 
the bears in his will ; and his respectability in the 
public estimation will be in proportion to the amount 
he settles upon them. Thinking this a novel method 
of creating a charity-fund, I inquired whether any 
of this money was ever distributed among the poor. 
" No, indeed," said my informant, with a much in- 
jured look. " These bears are emblematical of our 
own prosperity ; and we do n't want them to be poor, 
miserable, poverty-stricken devils ! " Sure enough ! 
how ridiculous that I did not see this point at first ! 
As to the diet upon which these " emblems " subsist, 
it is composed, principally, of bread and honey, and 
many other dainty and delectable morsels. I have 
not heard that they indulge in wine and cigars, 
though doubt not that in that case they would be 
furnished with the choicest brands. But I suspect 
that, in this particular matter, their order of intelli- 
gence is a little in advance of our own — being well 
aware that such naughty habits would V ruinous to 
their constitutions. It is interesting to observe the 
high degree of domestic happiness that these bears 
enjoy, and the serene composure and well-to-do con- 
tentment depicted on their expressive countenances. 



MORE ABOUT THE BEARS. 155 

Reposing upon its gluteii muscles, (whoever is not 
familiar with this phrase will please refer to Gray's 
Anatomy — not Elegy — or Youatt on the Horse,) 
I have seen the biggest and the handsomest take 
another more delicate and sickly looking hear upon 
its lap in the most soothing and sympathizing man- 
ner, hugging it to its bosom, and caressing it with a 
tenderness more touching to behold than — to endure. 
Their playfulness exceeds the sportive dalliance of 
little kittens, though it does not appear to be of a 
nature suitable to any member of the human family ; 
for, several years ago, an English captain, in hopes 
of having a little recreative sport with them, jumped 
into the pen, and commenced poking fun at them, in 
the shape of an umbrella, whereupon, apparently 
overjoyed at such an unusual visit, one of the bears 
took the captain to his hairy embrace so long and so 
fervently that the poor fellow died. 

From dawn to dusk hundreds of people are to be 
seen at the " Graben" looking after the bears ; for 
they are the pets and property of all ; and every citi- 
zen feels his own individual interest and pride in 
them ; so that probably no person who is not sick 
abed, ever lets a day pass by without paying these 
municipal treasures a visit. 

You pass along the streets, and bears in stone and 
bronze will attract your attention everywhere ; monu- 
ments and fountains and public places are orna- 
mented with them ; the shop-windows temptingly 
exhibit them in every variety ; carved in wood and 
ivory, you have them perched on the corners of toi- 
let and fancy boxes ; you grasp them in the handles 



156 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of knives and forks and brushes ; you see them in 
groups of all descriptions of character — as musicians 
and ballet-dancers, with fiddles and umbrellas and 
fans ; with spectacles on the nose ; a bear in the pul- 
pit of a miniature church is represented as preaching 
to a congregation of bears ; and a very saleable arti- 
cle is a set of chess-men, all bears, distinguishable 
from each other by their different attitudes, and the 
queen from the king, by having a young bear in her 
arms. You go into the houses, and pictures of bears 
adorn the walls of almost every room ; while the 
mantle-pieces look fearful with representations of 
them in marble, soapstone, and plaster of Paris. 
Embroidered, in a crouching attitude, into the can- 
opy that overhangs your bed, they appear ready to 
spring upon you with the awakening day. You eat 
beautiful models of them in butter, blanc-mange, and 
gelatine. Worked in raised worsted, on comfortable 
chairs, you sit down upon them, with a very uncom- 
fortable misgiving of a growl, accompanied by the' 
unpleasant sensation of an imaginary bite. In con- 
clusion, the town-clock contains a mechanism similar 
to that at Strasburg, by which, whenever it strikes 
the hour, a procession of bears is made to march in 
a circle around the seated figure of an old man with 
an hour-glass in his hand, to whom every bear, in 
passing, bestows a friendly nod of the head ; which, 
considering the source, I look upon as an exceedingly 
civil and well-behaved proceeding. And now — sic 
transit historia ursi. 

I believe that every man fills, in his career through 
life, at one time or other, a situation which over after 



ORINDELWALD GLACIER. 157 

looms up before liis soul as the great and particular 
event of his entire existence ; tied up within the 
meshes of his memory, the Gordian knot that he can 
never separate or cut — the Rubicon of experience, 
that never becomes diminutive in the distance of the 
other side. This situation, as far as it relates to the 
individuality of the writer, has recently transpired. 
At Grindelwald, about fifteen miles from Inter- 
laken, are situated two glaciers, the upper one filling 
up the gorge between the Wetterhorn and Metten- 
berg mountains, and the lower one that between the 
Mettenberg and the Eiger. Into the latter of these 
glaciers a grotto, very similar to the drift or gang- 
way of a coal mine, has been driven to a distance of 
about three hundred feet. At the extreme end of 
this is a space some fifteen feet square, called the 
"chamber of ice," or, sometimes, the "ice-chapel." 
Lamps are suspended at regular intervals along the 
gangway, and the chamber itself is more brilliantly 
illuminated with a number of others ; the effect of 
these lights upon the intervening wall of ice being 
one indescribably beautiful, rendering it of an amber 
color, and the crystals, in apparently globular masses 
of limpid clearness, sufficiently translucent to enable 
one to distinguish the shadowy outlines of an object 
on the opposite side, though the wall is at least a 
yard in thickness. In the chamber were seated two 
women, singing, for a consideration of ten cents, 
" Komm heraus, komm heraus, du Schweitzer Bub," 
and other Swiss airs, accompanying their voices with 
a zither. They were rather pretty, not to say that 
they were absolutely charming, with an arch play- 



158 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

fulness about their eyes and lips that indicated two 
palpitating hearts exceedingly out of place in the 
chilly atmosphere of that icy vault. (Does any one 
ask whose hearts were they ? and insinuate something 
about my American friend and his friend ? Get out, 
now ! you ought to know better.) But with the 
prettiness alluded to, and attired in the gay and pic- 
turesque costume of the country, they rendered the 
tout ensemble somewhat interesting and romantic ; 
and my American friend, with a degree of impudence 
most assuredly acquired in Europe, threatened to 
steal from one of these songstresses a kiss, remarking 
knavishly, that such would be the only thing neces- 
sary to complete the romance of the occasion. But, 
like another Mentor, I restrained him with a word 
of admonition ; and it was well, for just then a 
young peasant entered, who, methought, glanced with 
more than a brother's interest at the fair young dam- 
sel, and who might, in the event of my friend carry- 
ing out his threat, have converted this beautiful 
grotto of ice into a horrible boxing-mill — something 
that would have detracted very materially from the 
charm of the adventure. 

Arrived again outside, I ascended, accompanied by a 
guide, the Mettenberg to the distance of over four thou- 
sand feet ; and attained, after three hours' climbing, 
along a fearfully dangerous and precipitous pathway, 
the height where the glacier is almost level, and con- 
stitutes what is called the sea of ice, three miles 
long and two wide. Here it was that occurred the 
peculiar impressiveness before alluded to ; for while 
thus placed, midway upon this sea of ice, the sky 



A STORM ON THE ALPS. 159 

darkened, the clouds gathered over our heads, the 
winds began to blow with sudden and fearful vio- 
lence, and the rain to fall in sheets upon us ; the 
thunderbolts were scattered about, as if it were 

"That in such gaps as desolation work'd, 
There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurk'd." 

An immediate return down the mountain pass was 
not to be thought of, as the storm would have 
hurled us irresistibly into the abyss below ; so we 
fled for refuge into a little hut, inhabited by a goat- 
herd, that was situated on the mountain side, near 
the very edge of the ice-lake ; but the hut looked in 
imminent danger of being blown down itself, so that 
the feeling of shelter it afforded was scarcely one of 
safety, and certainly none of comfort. Oh ! it was 
terrible, that moment ! To see the swollen cataracts 
gushing like great rivers down the rocky precipices, 
to hear, like a thunder-clap, the crash of the ava- 
lanche, and witness it shooting down the gorge, pre- 
senting the appearance of a great column of animated 
snow ; to hear the wild howling of the wind, and 
the heavy splashing of the rain, interspersed with 
the terrified bleating of the goats that clamber in 
great numbers to the mountain sides, like flies to a 
wall ; to feel yourself alone, battling with the great 
storm-king, in his own domain, at an altitude far 
from the fixed foundation of men's ordinary dwell- 
ing places ; when 

"The loud hills shake with tbeir mountain mirth, 
As if they did rejoice o'er a young earthquake's birth," 

is a situation of awfulness and sublimity that cannot 



160 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

be surpassed ; the terrors of a storm at sea cannot be 
more fearful in their nature than those of a hurricane 
upon the Alps. The fury of this storm continued 
about an hour, after which it gradually subsided ; 
and then my guide and myself, accompanied by the 
goatherd who occupied the hut, which, after all, had 
proved itself a great friend to us, undertook the de- 
scent of the mountain by the way we had come. 
This path was crossed by numerous little rivulets, 
over which, at ordinary times, it is easy enough to 
step without much risk of wetting the soles of one's 
shoes ; but now, the first of them that we reached 
presented the formidable character of a mighty tor- 
rent, arching itself over the narrow footway, and 
tumbling with furious velocity, and a great roaring 
noise, madly into the chasm, at least five hundred 
feet below ; washing away, too, and carrying with 
its impetuous tide a shower of stones from the still 
higher regions above us, so that it was utterly im- 
possible to proceed farther. "We therefore retraced 
our steps to the hut, and as it was already eight 
o'clock, and growing dark, no alternative was left us 
but to remain there all night. 

The hut was not very inviting, and the major part 
of it was partitioned off for the goats, of whom 
there were at least twenty or thirty, all having little 
bells attached to their necks ; the constant tinkling 
of which, interspersed occasionally with the dull 
sound of two heads butting each other, was not cal- 
culated to vary the monotony of the situation to any 
great extent. Xor was the aroma that emanated 
from the goats and pervaded our apartment like that 



A NIGHT ON THE ALPS. 161 

which Lubin prepares for the fair sex, or I could 
advise him how to obtain a double-distilled extract, 
strong enough to perfume all the pocket handker- 
chiefs and waterfalls in creation. We had a supper 
composed of goat's milk and kirschwasser, — the latter 
is an article that the strongest whiskey need not be 
ashamed of, — and I am not certain but that we re- 
peated this supper, or at least the latter half of it, 
sundry more times during the night. As a curious 
fact in philosophy, I would mention that as the 
kirschwasser descended in the barometrical bottle that 
contained it, our spirits rose, though the prospect ap- 
peared to grow foggier all the time ; and had our ba- 
rometer continued to descend, which it did not, until 
morning, I doubt not but that our condition on a 
lofty mountain would have been reduced to one pimply 
a little elevated. 

In the absence of anything resembling a bed, and 
in the presence of our neighbors with the bells, sleep, 
of course, was not to be dreamed of; so I resigned 
myself with mute attention to the wonderful accounts 
of hair-breadth escapes, of being sno wed-up on the 
Alps, of living the dear knows how long on roots 
and the bark of trees, which our host, who is also a 
chamois hunter, recited of himself with great gusto. 
In this he was seconded by the guide, who was not 
a whit behind in adventurous experiences ; and be- 
tween the two, a life upon the mountains was pretty 
thoroughly canvassed and discussed, with all its 
merits highly praised, and its little imperfections but 
lightly touched upon, throughout the dreary livelong 
hours of that night. Be it freely confessed, however, 
11 



162 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

that, notwithstanding the glorions colors and fascina- 
tions with which they embellished such a life, I 
wonld prefer not to pass the remainder of my days 
in its rapturous enjoyments. 

In the morning, at daybreak, we sallied forth once 
more ; and crossing the ice to the opposite side — the 
side resting against the Eiger mountain — we began 
our descent with the help of ropes and pronged staves, 
mutually aiding each other ; and partly over the gla- 
cier, partly down the mountain side, we arrived at 
length at its foot in the village of Grindelwald, where 
we learned that a party of men had started out with 
lanterns in search for us late in the night, but found 
the roads impassable on account of the mountain 
torrents and avalanches, which defeated their kind 
intentions toward us. 

One of our trio, who passed the night on yonder 
peak, a good deal nearer to the moon than he had ever 
been before, was almost cured of any further desire 
for Alpine investigation ; whether it is likely that 
this one was either Peter Joch, the guide ; Ulrich 
Schlunegger, the chamois hunter ; or the subscriber, 
is a subject left open for conjecture. 



LETTER XL 
SWITZERLAND. — LAKE BRIENZ. 

VISIT TO THE GIESBACH WATERFALL.— THE STAUBBACH 
CASCADE.— INTEBLAKEN.— GENE VA.— THE TURNER- FEST. 
TRIP TO CHAMOUNY, AND ASCENT OF THE ALPS.— OVER 
THE TETE NOIR PASS, TO MARTIGNY.— THE CASTLE OF 
CHILLON. — DOWN THE LAKE OF GENEVA. — RETURN 
TO ZURICH. — INTERESTING INCIDENT.— EN ROUTE TO 
MUNICH. 

Munich, June, 1867. 

HAVING returned in safety after the adventurous 
visit to the Grindelwald glaciers, I proceeded on 
a steamboat over Lake Brienz, to the Giesbach 
Waterfall, which is undoubtedly one of the finest 
examples of that character in the whole world. It 
is a stream of water about the size of Norwegian 
Creek, in Pottsville, after a pretty smart rain. It 
has its source from the great Scheideck Mountain, 
whence it here falls, in a series of pitches that 
follow each other in rapid succession, a distance of 
probably six hundred feet. Under one of these dis- 
tinct shutes, about midway from the commencement 
of the fall, a bridge is constructed, over which one 
may pass and look through the sheet of water and 
spray into the valley beneath. At night, during the 
summer season, the proprietor of the hotel here situ- 
ated is in the habit of illuminating these falls with 

(163) 



164 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Bengal fire, and the effect thereof is eminently grand. 
Another very beautiful cascade is the Staubbach, at 
Lauterbrunnen, about nine miles from Interlaken. 
This is a small rivulet flowing from Alpine springs 
at a very high altitude, and precipitates itself from a 
perpendicular rock the enormous distance of nine 
hundred and twenty-five feet. If there is the light- 
est breeze in the atmosphere, this sheet of water be- 
comes so scattered before reaching the ground, that 
it has the appearance of a column of dust, (hence its 
name Staubbsich, or Dust-Spring,) and settles upon the 
earth, moistening a large surface, like a heavy dew. 
During sunshine it resembles a long veil, whose light 
and gauzy texture waving to and fro, assuming a 
variety of shapes by its constantly changing folds, 
and reflecting a bewildering succession of prismatic 
colors, produces a result of peculiar and inimitable 
beauty. 

Interlaken is a very fashionable resort ; and just 
now the season is in its zenith of bustle and excite- 
ment. It is a kind of breathing-place — a lovely situ- 
ation to pause and reflect in, for the hundreds, I 
might say thousands, of the worshippers of God's 
glorious architecture who are engaged in what is 
technically termed " doing" Switzerland. There are 
sixteen hotels, every one of which is capable of ac- 
commodating about two hundred guests ; yet I am 
told that the influx of visitors is so great that the 
establishment of additional boarding-places is in im- 
mediate contemplation. 

The Bernoise highlands present from this point a 
panorama of indescribable magnitude and grandeur, 



LAUSANNE— GENEVA. 165 

in the centre of which the towering Jungfrau, veiled 
in perpetual snow, constitutes the chiefest object of 
man's wonder and admiration. 

Leaving Interlaken, I passed through Berne to 
Lausanne, and thence to the beautiful city of Geneva. 
There, where the azure current of the Rhone sweeps 
with an arrow's swiftness from the bosom of Lake 
Leman. 

Geneva, with its fine houses, wide and cleanly tho- 
roughfares, pretty gardens and pleasure-grounds, nu- 
merous fountains, magnificent bridges, and — shall I 
say it ? — handsome women ; yes ; for their faultless 
figures, fair and spotless complexion, regular and 
well-defined lineaments, speaking eyes, cheerful ex- 
pression of countenances, graceful elasticity of move- 
ment, deserve that tribute of homage and admiration 
due to everything that is beautiful in art or nature ; 
and where the two — the artistic and the natural — 
are united so intimately as in the Genevese ladies — 
I beg their pardon! but — Geneva, with its unknown 
grave of Calvin ; its aged, gray-grown, almost totter- 
ing homes of Voltaire and 

"The self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau — 
The apostle of affliction ; he who threw 
Enchantment over passion, and from woe 
Wrung overwhelming eloquence — " 

aye, yes, Geneva, the charming inter- Alpine metrop- 
olis, whose windows glitter brilliantly with Time's 
monitors, in the shape of anchor-escapement and 
thir teen-jewelled watches. 

The day of my arrival was that of the beginning 



166 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of the Turner-Fest, or Fete Gymnastique, which, is 
an annual period of festivity and great jubilee, con- 
tinning five successive days, on which occasion all 
the Turner, or Gymnastic associations of the different 
cantons of Switzerland come together in one of the 
principal cities, and indulge in reciprocal trials of 
strength and gymnastic exercises on a great field 
prepared for the occasion, and decorated with flags, 
wreaths, and flowers. Indeed, as far as I could see, 
every house in the city exhibited more or less bunt- 
ing from roofs and windows — a display of patriotism 
that reminded me much of our own cities, after some 
brilliant victory had been achieved, during our late 
war ;.nor were they unmindful here of our own ban- 
ner ; for the Stars and Stripes floated from at least 
one window of every hotel — a circumstance that, I 
strongly suspect, was occasioned more by a love for 
our monetary impressions of the American eagle, 
than any emblematical admiration that might attach 
itself to that glorious old bird. 

Thus it may be said, that Geneva came under my 
observation clothed in its gaudiest holiday attire ; 
and were it not for the marring circumstance of 
great cannon firing, processions, with the loud ac- 
companiment of brass bands, boisterous hilarity, 
speeches, bonfires, and illuminations which charac- 
terized the commencement of this fete on the Sab- 
bath day, my impression of the city would be an 
exceedingly pleasant and satisfactory one. 

On my way hither I had formed the acquaintance 
of a worthy gentleman from Pittsburg, Pa., who had 
just returned from an extensive tour through Syria 



CH AMOUNT— AMONG THE ALPS. 167 

and the Holy Land, and with whom I now proceeded 
in a diligence to Chamouny, to see the great giant of 
the Alps, Mont Blanc, and its associate chain of 
mountains. This was my second introduction to 
that European institution, a diligence — a great lum- 
bering concern, like a menagerie wagon, two and a 
half stories high, and drawn by six powerful horses. 
On this occasion the caravan contained nineteen pas- 
sengers — eight who occupie. \ the interior, six who 
were above these, in the second story, covered by an 
awning, and five others, who were perched still 
higher up, in the front part of the vehicle, just be- 
hind the driver. These five were my Pittsburg 
friend and myself, besides two gentlemen and a lady 
from Australia. The distance from Geneva to Cha- 
mouny is forty-two miles, which we made by fre- 
quent relays in twelve hours. 

On the following day, together with my four com- 
panions of the high position on the diligence, I 
started on another pilgrimage afoot up the Montan- 
vert, the summit of which — an altitude of nearly 
six thousand feet, we attained after three hours' 
walk. We then crossed the sea of ice lying between 
it and the Chapeau, a mountain on the opposite side, 
and descended by what is known as the Mauvais Pas, 
or dangerous path, which led along the ledges of the 
rock, where these were so perpendicular, and the 
footholds so narrow, that spikes were driven into the 
sides, to which an iron railing was attached for a 
distance of some hundred and fifty yards, whereby 
one could hold and steady oneself in the descent. At 
the foot of the glacier is another crystal grotto, or 



168 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ice-tunnel, similar to that at Grindelwald ; into this 
we made a short excursion, and afterward ascended 
the Flegere, another high mountain, lying immedi- 
ately back of the small town, and constituting one 
of the towering sides of the great natural kettle 
known as the Valley of Chamounix. From here we 
had a view of Mont Blanc such as it is equalled from 
no other point. The huge and rugged snow-covered 
excrescence of earth lay before us in all its nakedness ; 
from its base to the glittering white summit, with 
not a cloud to mar the awe-inspiring prospect, loom- 
ing up into the sky like a giant medium between 
earth and heaven ; and if it were the only one by 
which the chosen might pass from the former to the 
latter, I should say that the way, though not very 
narrow, is indeed difficult to wander, and " few there 
are who go thereon." They say that such mountains 
bear about the same proportionate relation to the 
general rotundity of the earth, as that of an orange 
is characterized by the little pimples and roughness 
on its surface. It may be so — at least, I am not pre- 
pared to argue against the time-honored geographical 
dogma ; but in that case, here were some pimples, 
now, that made the old face of Nature very wrinkled 
indeed ; and I marvel much how our sublunary globe 
can avoid making some very ugly lurches, when such 
protuberances get on the down-hill side of the re- 
volving mass. The following day we started out 
afoot for Martigny, over the Tete Xoir pass — a dis- 
tance of twenty-four miles. But after six miles of 
walking, I looked upon discretion as the better part 
of valor, and bestrode a frisky mule, whereon I also 



OYER TETE NOIR PASS. 169 

loaded the satchels and surplus accoutrements of my 
two friends, and rode triumphantly along, forcibly 
impressed with the recollection of all the pictures I 
had ever seen of Napoleon crossing the Alps. Ar- 
rived at the top of the mountain, however, I sent the 
mule back in disgrace, as he had not been of much 
comfort to me, and there was that about me that 
was sorely bruised. The Tete Noir is a ledge of 
rocks, high up, on whose face the sun never shines, 
and is black and mouldy and wet wuth the never- 
ceasing trickling of water down its side. 

At Martigny we took the cars and proceeded to 
Villeneuve, at the head of the Lake of Geneva, where 
we took lodging at the Hotel Byron, formerly the 
residence of the poet. This is one of the loveliest 
spots I ever beheld ; and I wonder not that Byron 
could write poetry, with all the associations that sur- 
rounded and inspired him here. 

"Lake Leman woos me with her crystal face, 

The mirror where the stars and mountains view 
The stillness of their aspect in each trace 

Its clear depth yields of their far height and hue." 

Here it was where much of Childe Harold, and the 
whole of the Prisoner of Chillon was located, im- 
buing the untamed poet with a portion of that 
dreamy, misanthropical melancholy, which made of 
him a wreck amid all his flowery imagery. 

"Is it not better, then, to be alone, 

And love earth only for its earthly sake? 
By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone, 
Or the pure bosom of its nursing lake." 



170 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

The castle of Chillon is in a well-preserved condi- 
tion, and one of the finest relics of the Feudal period. 
Many a thing " of quaint and curious lore " is shown 
in connection with it, hut especially the old prison 
vaults, with seven stone pillars, to which the prisoners 
were chained. Then there is the Knights' Hall, where 
the heraldry of the Duke of Savoy were wont to 
gather at the festive board ; and it had a spacious 
medieval air about it, that it needed but a slight in- 
flation of the mind to realize, as it were, the heavy- 
booted tread of the myrmidons, the clash and clangor 
of arms, the Babylonic commingling of loud voices, 
the boisterous song, the clinking of the wine-cups, 
and the general " sound of revelry by night." The 
joists and rafters were relieved from presenting a 
positive barn-like bareness by a number of yellow and 
tattered banners, interspersed with antique weapons, 
helmets, and coats-of-mail ; and here and there some 
uncouth fresco was still dimly visible through the 
dingy, time-darkened surface of the compact stucco 
on the walls. There, too, was the terrible Hall of 
Justice, (?) and the stairway, down which the con- 
demned were obliged to descend blindfolded, to a 
watery grave ; three steps they would pass in safety ; 
but the fourth would plunge them into the lake, 
which is here eight hundred feet in depth. It was 
here where the Reformer, Bonevard, was chained to 
one of the stone pillars before mentioned, during a 
period of seven years, by the then reigning duke ; 
and released at last by the united Bernese and 
Genevese forces. A track in the stone floor around 
the pillar is pointed out as having been occasioned by 



ZURICH AGAIN. 171 

his footsteps. After his release, the good man lived 
many years in Geneva, and was amply cared for by 
its citizens. 

From here we sailed down the beautiful lake, over 
its entire length of about fifty miles, and arrived 
again at Geneva, where on the following day we 
separated — Mr. Miller, the gentleman from Pitts- 
burg, before mentioned, taking the straight route for 
Paris, and I that to Neufchatel. 

On this line the railroad passes by some of the 
loveliest scenery I have ever beheld, by the shores of 
Lake Keufchatel, and frequently through the midst 
of luxurious and far-reaching vineyards. 

At Bienne it was necessary to change cars ; and up 
to this point the language of the railroad officials had 
been French, and I had been painfully impressed with 
a snubbishness and want of courtesy that I had not 
heretofore witnessed in any parts of France. But 
here we came under German management, and the 
difference of pleasanter cars, together with the ex- 
treme attentiveness and politeness of the officials, 
came upon us with a suddenness of contrast that was 
both curious and agreeable. 

At length, after nearly five weeks' rambling through 
Switzerland, I returned again to Zurich, (where I had 
left a portion of my baggage,) and to the almost home- 
comforts of the Baur au Lac hotel. Here I found 
ex-Governor Curtin, just on the point of leaving for 
a tour among the mountains. Here I also formed 
the acquaintance of a gentleman who had been 
travelling during the two weeks previously, with 
Hon. James H. Campbell ; and it appears that I had 



172 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

just arrived at the head of Lake Geneva, (where Mr. 
Campbell had resided two weeks,) about a day after 
his departure. With this gentleman, "Rev. Mr. Blake, 
from Massachusetts, I afterward continued my 
travels, during a short period, in company. 

Shortly before our departure from Zurich, my 
American friend had a little colloquial adventure, 
the narration of which may not be altogether out of 
place. Seated at the window, with his chin resting 
in the hollow of his hand, he was gazing wistfully 
into the serene distance without, and lost in a revery 
whose burden was the dear ones beyond the surging 
waters of the broad Atlantic ; when he was suddenly 
aroused by a light tap at his chamber-door. 

" Herein! " called he in a distinct voice ; when pres- 
ently the door opened, and there stood before him 
the timid figure of a young girl, of interesting and 
thoughtful mien ; with traces of care, beyond that 
generally allotted to one of her years, that cast a 
tempering shade over her otherwise personal attrac- 
tiveness. Then, with faltering German accents, she 
said what in substance was about as follows : — 

" 0, sir 1 I hope you will excuse my boldness ; but 
I would like — if it is possible — to go with you to 
America." 

" Go with me to America ! " said my friend, per- 
fectly dumbfounded at such an unaccountable appeal 
from so amiable an apparition. 

" Why, my good child, what in the world possesses 
you with such an idea ? and how do you know that 
I am an American ? " 

" I heard you say so to the gentleman in the book- 



AN INCIDENT. 173 

store to-day, when I took some work there that he 
had given me to do." 

" But why do you wish to go to America ? " 
' " Because I have a sister who went there with her 
husband five years ago ; since which time I have lost 
both my parents, and am so lonely now without my 
sister." Here the poor girl's voice faltered still more, 
and her eyes were swimming in tears. 

"Have you no other relations here?" said my 
American friend, becoming more interested in the 
case. 

"Yes, sir; but they are all poor, and have a hard 
time to get along for themselves. Besides, they are 
unkind to me, and expect me to work more for them 
than I am able to do." 

" What kind of work do you do ? " 

" I make fancy card-cases and toy-boxes of paper, 

sir." 

" But that should pay you pretty well, my child." 
" Ah ! no, sir ; I cannot earn more than a franc a 
day, and it costs me nearly all of that for a bare 
living." 

" I should think so, indeed! You have not men- 
tioned your name, Miss ; perhaps " — 

" My name is Rosina, at your service, sir." 
" But do you not know that it requires consider- 
able money to go to America ? " 

" Oh 1 yes, sir ; my dear parents left me enough to 
defray the necessary expenses ; and I only desire to 
place myself under the protection of some kind gen- 
tleman who would take the trouble to have a guardian 
care over me, during so long and perilous a journey. 



174 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

You said at the bookstore, sir, that you had a wife 
and children at home, and spoke of them with so 
much feeling, that I felt sure you would not be un- 
kind ; and therefore I took heart to approach you in 
this abrupt manner." 

Here was an artless and confiding creature, to be 
sure ! My American friend now explained to her, 
how it was impossible to comply with her request, as 
he did not contemplate leaving Europe for some 
months to come. But he gave her good advice how 
to proceed ; answered her many inquiries fairly and 
explicitly ; and above all, cautioned her not to be too 
zealous in her lookout for a guardian gentleman. I 
could see that he was greatly moved by the simple 
story and manners of this young Swiss girl ; and it is 
but natural to hope that she may attain the fulfil- 
ment of her desire, and arrive in safety, to be cheered 
with brighter prospects and a sister's presence in that 
land of promise and of plenty. 

We left Zurich for Schaffhausen, to view the Ehine 
Falls in that vicinity. In these I was agreeably sur- 
prised ; for instead of finding the dull and uninterest- 
ing " small affair," which a number of persons had 
pronounced it to be, I found it a grand and tumultuous 
cataract — the " hell of waters," as Mr. Murray calls 
it ; and the associate situation is of the most romantic 
character imaginable, of Nature tamed down from 
extreme wildness by agricultural industry and art. 
From the old city of Schaffhausen we went by rail- 
way to Constanz, the city where the martyr Huss 
was burned at the stake. The place where this ter- 
rible deed was done is pointed out to strangers ; but 



LAKE CONSTANCE— MUNICH. 175 

the train of thought which it recalls is of such a hor- 
rifying and revolting nature that I hastened onward. 
Here the river Ehine flows out of Lake Constance, 
or the Boden See, as it is called in Germany, and we 
took a steamboat and passed over its entire length. 
It is the largest of the Swiss lakes, being about sixty 
miles long and ten wide. On the water we had a fine 
view of the Senis chain of Alps, and of a magnificent 
sunset, that far exceeded in beauty and effectiveness 
any that I had seen on the ocean. At Lindau the 
entrance is guarded by a colossal statue of white 
granite, representing a lion, the principal figure in the 
coat of arms of Bavaria, which kingdom we now ap- 
proached. In the city is a fine statue in bronze of 
Maximilian, father of the present King of Bavaria. 
There is also here, as the most noteworthy object of 
curiosity, a portion of a wall built by the Romans, it 
is said, fifteen years before the birth of Christ. 

We now took the train for Munich, and passed in 
a few hours from view of the Bayern Hochalpen 
mountains, over a ground of interminable flatness in 
every direction, as far as the eye can reach. Indeed, 
it is in every respect, except character of soil, similar 
to our western prairies. Trees are but thinly scat- 
tered, and nothing like a forest is at all visible. The 
farms are in a high state of cultivation ; and I am 
told that the people throughout the country are, 
generally speaking, in very comfortable circumstances. 
At Augsburg we stopped a short time, and then 
passed on to Munich. 



LETTER XII. 

MUNICH. — MUSIC. 

MUNICH. — PASSION OF THE PEOPLE FOR MUSIC— GOSSIP 
ABOUT THE KING. — APT GALLERIES. — DISTINGUISHED 
PORTRAITS.— VISIT TO THE BRONZE FOUNDRY. — A MON- 
UMENTAL COLONNADE. — BEER. — STUTTGART.— ITS PAL- 
A CES AND THER B UIL DINGS. — CARLSR UHE.— BADEN-BA- 
DEN— THE ARCHDUKE'S CASTLE.— THE CONVERSATION 
HALL.— GAMING. 

Heidelberg, July, 1867. 

ON entering Munich, almost the first object that 
greeted my attention was a cavalry regiment 
returning from parade, headed by a corps of buglers, 
consisting of at least thirty instruments, who per- 
formed one of Strauss' waltzes, in a manner that 
appeared to fill the very horses with sprightliness 
and elasticity, as they stepped along, one might say, 
in a measure, keeping time to the music. It was 
evident that I had arrived in the land where instru- 
mental music is a passion, and where people in 
straitened circumstances, if it needs must be, can 
play away their dinner-hour on a flute or violin, leav- 
ing the poor stomach none the wiser for the little 
deception. For the sound of piano-music was float- 
ing toward me on the waves of the atmosphere from 
every direction all the time I was in the city, except 
that which is appropriated for sleep. The King 
himself is a warm admirer of the divine art, and 

(176) 



THE KING AND A PRIMA DONNA. 177 

performs very creditably on a number of instru- 
ments. Recently the prima donna of the royal opera 
of Munich, Fraulein Mallinger, for whom the people 
have an adoration bordering on frenzy, had an offer 
of twenty thousand thalers for a season, from the 
King of Prussia, to sing at Berlin ; but the King of 
Bavaria immediately offered her the same amount to 
stay where she is ; and as he is just turned twenty-one 
years of age, and said to be A the handsomest monarch 
of Europe, the odds were greatly in his favor, Bis- 
marck and all to the contrary notwithstanding. They 
say, indeed, that the King's intended bride, a sister to 
the Empress of Austria, is a little jealous of this 
pretty opera singer ; and recently, when she was hav- 
ing her portrait taken, together with her royal lover, 
at a photograph gallery, the young actress — inci- 
dentally or designedly, as the case may be — entered 
the establishment, whereupon the King proceeded to 
shake hands with her, and treated her with uncom- 
mon civility ; seeing which, the Princess that is to be 
the Queen was immediately seized with a fit of the 
pouts, ordered her carriage and departed. Now, the 
story does not say that the King hurried after her, 
entreating her for mercy's sake to pause and gather 
the fragments of his broken heart ; but certain it is 
that they are reconciled ; for I saw them ride out 
together on horseback, attended only by a single 
valet, who rode dreamily behind, beyond a whisper- 
ing distance of the lovers, and they certainly looked 
too exuberantly happy to leave any doubt on my 
mind as to the felicitous nature of their feelings. 
On the same evening, however, I saw him again — 

12 



178 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

without the Princess — at the opera, witnessing the 
representation of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin ; and 
it appeared to me that the prima donna tried very 
hard to please his Majesty, as she seemed to see none 
other, and he frequently stepped forward in his hox, 
to bestow his gracious applause. He is a good-look- 
ing young fellow, certainly ; and my American friend 
says of him, "He sings like a martingale, and dances 
like pop-corn on a hot stove." Dear me ! what more 
can you expect from a king ? * 

There are two very fine art-galleries in Munich, 
containing a large number of excellent and valuable 
paintings, many of which were formerly in the gal- 
lery of Diisseldorf ; among which are the Last Judg- 
ment and the Condemnation of the Wicked, two 
strong, impressive, and highly finished paintings by 
Rubens. In view, however, of the numerous works 
purporting to be executed by Rubens, Murillo, Ra- 
phael, Yan Dyck, and others, I could not help think- 
ing how wonderfully industrious these artists must 
have been, to have done all the work that is attributed 
to them, and which now adorns so many of the gal- 
leries of Europe. They were nearly as productive of 
pictures as the Champagne country is at the present 
day, of the delicious beverage which the world enjoys 
so much. The most attractive paintings of Munich 
are those which constitute the Gallery of Beauty in 
the King's palace, consisting, originally, of thirty- 
seven portraits of the handsomest women of Bavaria 
during the reign of King Louis, the grandfather of 

* Since this was written, the marriage-contract has not been en- 
tered into. 



THE BRONZE FOUNDRY. 179 

the present monarch. They are, certainly, very 
beautiful creations ; and if they do not natter the 
ladies whom they represent, then the court of Louis 
must have presented a very gay and charming spec- 
tacle. One of these portraits, that of the celebrated 
Lola Montes, was removed a few years ago ; leaving 
but thirty-six in the gallery at present. 

A very interesting place to visit, in M inich, is the 
Bronze Foundry — the largest establishment of the 
kind, I believe, in existence ; where bronze statues 
and all descriptions of monuments are cast and fin- 
ished, and sent to all parts of the world. I here 
saw the model in plaster-of-paris, made by Story, 
the American sculptor, for some years past at Rome, 
of the bronze doors in the Capitol at Washington ; 
also that of the colossal equestrian statue of Wash- 
ington at Richmond, Va. They were working at 
the time of my visit at a magnificent statue of Ed- 
ward Everett, which is nearly completed, and in- 
tended to be erected at Boston. There was also a 
very fine piece representing two figures — the one 
Abraham Lincoln, the other a slave. Mr. Lincoln is 
in a standing posture, extending his left hand over 
the head of the kneeling slave, as if in the act of 
calling a blessing upon him ; his right hand rests 
upon a shield, which is supported by the Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation and a pile of books, representing 
the laws — signifying that the act was one based upon 
justice and the common law. The model of this 
design was also executed by Story. 

Here were models of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, 
Chief Justice Marshall, and many others of the great 



180 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

men of our country. ISTeed I add, that a feeling of 
peculiar interest was awakened by the sight of these 
figures, recalling the familiar outlines of men whose 
"names that were not born to die" are household 
words with us, so far away from home — away, be- 
yond the great waters of a mighty ocean — away, 
where kings and potentates hold their oppressive 
rule. It see: as to me, as though I could love Munich 
more, for being the guardian of these precious treas- 
ures — for holding within her limits the images of 
our republican lawmakers and benefactors. 

Situated at one -of the extremities of the city is a 
monumental colonnade, built after the Grecian style 
of architect ure, and constituting a gallery, where busts 
of all the great men of Bavaria are erected to the 
honor and perpetuation of their names. Immediately 
in front of this is the colossal statue of Bavaria, rep- 
resented as a female, standing erect, with a wreath in 
her extended left hand, and the right resting on the 
mane of a crouching lion by her side. It is of bronze, 
and the largest in the world. The granite pedestal 
upon which the figure is erected is thirty-six, and 
the statue itself sixty feet high. Some idea may be 
formed of the enormous proportions of this produc- 
tion of art, when it is stated, that a stairway runs 
up inside of it, by which I was enabled to ascend, 
and walk about in the lady's head on — what I hope 
to be excused in calling — the cribriform plate of the 
ethmoid bone. The folds of her hair form seats, 
interiorly, that could not be covered by a couple of 
ordinary-sized carriage cushions. Yet as viewed from 
without, this work presents an artistic perfection of 



BA VARIAN BEER. 181 

outlines ; the proportions are correct and symmetri- 
cal ; the pose of the lady is elegant and graceful ; 
and the folds of her drapery are delineated with a 
naturalness that is charming. Assuredly the city of 
Munich can pride itself upon the singular fact of 
having the greatest and tallest specimen of the fair 
sex — though she is cold, (except when the sun shines 
on her,) hollow-hearted, and monstrously brazen. 

The greatest institution, however, in this fair city 
— greater even than her statue of Bavaria — is beer, 
and the drinking of beer is the proudest privilege of 
the Munichian. 

I have seen the teams going down the street, before 
my own home in America, in long processions, groan- 
ing under the weight of Yuengling's beer, and won- 
dered where, in the name of G-ambrinus, it all went 
to ; I have seen the stream of thirsty pilgrims pass 
to and from, and heard the subterranean music of 
Max Leimmer's mysterious elysium, and wondered 
whether the liquid happiness that he taps out there 
would be eternal ; but all this dwindles away into 
the utmost obliviousness when I stand in the august 
presence of this great DBXNH, as it presents itself in 
Munich. Shade of the great Falstaff — and ye ghosts 
of Bardolph and Peto, I would seek you here ; for if 
an element of "sack" is congenial to your repose, 
then surely this is the haven of your flightiest aspira- 
tions ! A man that is in anger — say but " Beer " 
to him, and — he smiles ; say it to the poor man, and 
he is rich ; to the rich man, and he is happy. Ask 
for information about beer, — How is it made ? whence 
come the best barley and hops, and what are the best 



182 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

means of cultivating both ? who makes the most de- 
licious beer ? and how many gallons can a body drink 
without dissolving or bursting asunder? and there is 
hardly a man, woman, or child in Munich, but what 
can give you every possible instruction on the subject. 

Music and Beer are the enthroned monarchs here, 
before whom Louis II. does as much homage as the 
veriest vassal of the kingdom. It was a mistake in 
nature that Meyerbeer was not born of these people ; 
and that Beerh&ve was the product of any other 
community, is the greatest puzzle of the century. I 
have been in the Hof-Brauhaus, where no beer is sold 
except what is drank upon the premises. They have 
no casks, but provide the establishment with about a 
thousand pewter quart-pots ; one of which it is neces- 
sary to secure, rinse it out in a tank of the several 
running fountains provided for the purpose, and then 
crowd your way to a tapster, get it filled, go to one 
of the numerous tables, and drink it leisurely. I 
have seen at least five hundred persons drinking beer 
at one time in this place, which is nothing more nor 
less than a yard, shedded over ; and sometimes the 
ground floor becomes so saturated with the slops 
from the pots that are spilled upon it, that it forms 
a kind of quagmire, in which it is impossible to pre- 
serve clean shoes. 

A gentleman told me in all seriousness, that if I 
had any business to transact, I should attend to it 
before nine o'clock in the morning ; because after 
that time everybody would be engaged in drinking 
beer for the rest of the day ! It was twi- 
light ; and I stood leaning over the balustrade of a 



THE ISER ROLLING RAPIDLY. 



183 



bridge, gazing long and lovingly into the gurgling 
water below, that carried me back to the days of my 
boyhood, when it was my peculiar pleasure to spout : 

"On Linden, when the sun was low, 
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow, 
And dark as winter was the flow 
Of Iser rolling rapidly." 

Can it be that this is the stream which inflated 
my youthful imagination, and that should roll down 
its thick volume of water with boisterous commo- 
tion, as it did 

"When the drum beat at dead of night?" 

"What can have become of all the water of the "Iser 
rolling rapidly ? " I appealed to my American friend, 
who, with native sagacity, immediately answered: 
" They made beer of it." And now 

"Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave, 

And charge with all thy" — breweries! 

The next city to which I proceeded was Stuttgardt. 
Going thither, I happened to go into a car contain- 
ing four Austrians, and one Prussian gentleman. It 
conveyed an agreeable impression to witness the good 
feeling and extreme cordiality which characterized 
their deportment toward each other, of these two 
kinds of people, who but last year were involved in 
such a terrible conflict, and which presented a strong 
contrast to the vindictive bitterness of our rebels, 
who, though thrashed and doubled up completely, 
still persist in spitting out their contemptible defi- 
ance in the most ridiculous manner. 



184 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

From Stuttgardt I took a walk of two miles to 
the beautiful palaces of Rosenstein and Wilhelma, 
the former of Grecian and the latter of Moorish 
architecture. The way thither leads from the King's 
residence in the city through a continuous avenue of 
trees, whose branches, uniting above, form a beautiful 
archway along the entire distance. The spaces be- 
tween the trees on both sides of the road are filled 
with contiguous lines of rose-bushes, that were in full 
bloom, of every variety and color. 

Stuttgardt contains many beautiful and attractive 
buildings, and has the finest railway depot that I 
have thus far seen. It is a perfect palace, both in 
beauty of architecture and in spacious proportions, 
constructed of chiselled granite and iron, and roofed 
over with thick glass, that admits light to every part 
of the building. 

In the principal square is a fine statue of Schiller, 
and in another square I saw a column about ninety 
feet high, surmounted by a bronze figure of Concor- 
dia. On my way from Stuttgardt, I asked a lady in 
the car what their king's name was, whereupon she 
blushed, looked a little confused, and said she really 
did not know ; that they had other things to think 
about that concerned them more nearly than the 
name of the kins*. 

I next arrived at Carlsruhe, where I remained but 
a few hours ; but saw enough during that short pe- 
riod to be greatly pleased with this truly beautiful 
city. It is built something on the plan of the city 
of Washington, the streets radiating outward from 
a central point — the Archducal residence — like the 



BADEN-BADEN. 185 

ribs of a fan ; and these again are intersected by- 
semicircular streets, the first being called the Inner 
Circle, the next the Second Circle, and so on. In 
the Carl Friedrich Street are situated a large number 
of statues and monuments ; of which the most note- 
worthy is a brown sandstone pyramid (modelled after 
the Egyptian pyramids) which incloses the remains 
of the founder of the city, and the stump of a tree 
against which he leaned for support when he was 
tired and exhausted, after having roamed about all 
day, looking up a site for his intended city ; and 
hence the name Carlsruhe, or Charles' Rest. 

I now arrested my journey at a place that I cannot 
pass over without an extended notice, due to its 
character as one of the most fashionable summer re- 
sorts in Continental Europe ; and one, too, wherein 
gambling is carried on to an extent that is absolutely 
frightful. This is the city of Baden-Baden, in the 
archduchy of the same name. Situated at the en- 
trance to the Black Forest, as it were in a kettle of 
hills, abounding with stately trees, between which a 
stream of water as clear as crystal threads its way in 
serpentine irregularity, appearing from the heights like 
a broad ribbon of silver when the sun shines upon it ; 
favored, too, with a great number of mineral and saline 
springs, some of which have the high temperature 
of a hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and whose 
medicinal properties are highly extolled in the treat- 
ment of many chronic affections, this city has advan- 
tages of local attractiveness that are rarely found in 
similar numbers and proximity with each other. 
Among the antique places of interest are the old 



186 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

castle, or rather the ruins of it, situated on the top 
of a hill, and which was formerly the seat of the 
margraves; the "new" Castle, which, however, 
scarcely deserves that title, it having been built as 
long ago as the thirteenth century ; and the ruins of 
Castle Eberstein, which, tradition says, the Emperor 
Otto L, not being able to take by storm, endeavored 
to capture by strategy, to which purpose he invited 
its incumbent to a tournament and dance at Speyer, 
intending to attack the stronghold during his ab- 
sence. The Emperor's daughter, smitten with the 
young Count, informed him of her father's scheme, 
during the dance, when, hastening home, he barely 
arrived in time to save his castle. The tradition very 
properly terminates with the marriage of the Count 
and the Emperor's daughter, who, it is said, had their 
cup of happiness flowing over ever after. I was 
shown all through the new Castle, at present occu- 
pied by the reigning Archduke, and found it retain- 
ing all the attributes of feudal grandeur, and as gor- 
geously furnished as any of the imperial palaces I 
had seen in or near Paris. 

Returning to the city, we will find in the west-end 
thereof situated the sanitary and gaming establish- 
ments, which together constitute the principal feature 
of the place. The waters of the different springs 
are variable in quality and temperature, and all exert 
a very salutary influence. The city has a number 
of intelligent physicians, who are well conversant 
with the availability of the waters for the manifold 
derangements that the human system is liable to un- 
dergo. As a general rule, the expense of medical 



THE PUMP-ROOM. 187 

advice here, as in all German cities, is not great. I 
knew a gentleman — a wretched dyspeptic and hypo- 
chondriac — who bored a doctor in his office with 
the same story of his infirmities, nearly half an hour 
every day for six weeks ; yet the kind doctor never 
winced, never appeared annoyed or ill-humored, and 
at length when he presented his bill, it only amounted 
to fifty florins, equal to about twenty dollars. Such 
urbanity of disposition, and devotion to the profes- 
sion deserve the gratitude of the world. 

The Pump-Room, containing an overflowing foun- 
tain of hot mineral water, of which it is the custom 
for everybody, sick or well, to drink large quantities 
every morning before breakfast, on general principles, 
is fronted by a large colonnade, whose wall is embel- 
lished with some of the finest frescos I have yet seen; 
representing legendary traditions of the Black Forest. 
The one delineating the mermaids of the Mummel- 
see is a production of rare qualities. 

But the edifice which is, par excellence, the attrac- 
tive feature of Baden, is the Conversation Hall, a 
large and beautiful building, magnificently fitted up, 
and comprising spacious apartments for social inter- 
course, dining, concert, and gaming purposes. In 
front of this building is a kiosk or pagoda, for the 
musicians, that alone cost seventy thousand francs 
in its construction, and might serve for a fairy palace 
or a beautiful bower in dreamland. Here every 
morning at seven o'clock, about forty of the best 
musicians greet the new-born day with the morning 
hymn, whilst hundreds of promenaders, composed of 
all characters, classes, and nationalities, from the^- 



188 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

"Gay, licentious, proud, 
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround," 

to the weak and decrepid invalid, who hopes to find 
here some amelioration of his physical sufferings, 
may he seen strolling np and down the shaded 
avenues, attired in careless neglige. In the after- 
noon, how T ever, the scene is changed into one of be- 
wildering enchantment. Crowds of people are seated 
around hundreds of small tables ; valets and waiters 
are flitting about like eccentric rockets, shot off on 
all manner of irregular errands ; high w^ds in shrill 
tones from this end, and merry laughter from that, 
are intermingled with the clatter of knives and forks, 
the clear jingle of glasses, and the popping of corks 
from champagne-bottles — and thus the epicurean 
part of the scene goes on. But the regular concert 
of the day has also commenced. Strains of music, 
now soft and mellow and low, as though heard afar 
off, filling the soul with a dreamy luxuriousness, the 
very sensuality of sound, — and now swelling up by 
regular gradation into a melodious acme, culminating 
in a volume of wild and over-running harmony, that 
sends vibration and a thrill through every nerve of 
the body. And now the untoiletted figures of the 
morning are converted into pedestrian broadcloth and 
kid gloves, silks and satins, and bonnets and ribbons 
and tucks, ringlets and flowers and paint. 

Let us enter the building, and listen to the music 
there — the clink of gold and silver that brings al- 
tera ate agony and joy to those who are under its 
baneful fascination. The doors are all open ; you 
cross no obstruction ; no questions asked ; no fees to 



GAMING. 189 

pay. As you enter the apartment with a timid and 
palpitating heart — as though guilty of a wickedness 
from which you could never recover — you see God's 
glorious and heaven-born sunlight pervading this 
abode, even as it does those of less % ocial darkness. 
Everything that surrounds you is calculated to 
separate your mind from the importance of money. 
The most lavish expenditures glare at you from every 
point. The gorgeous draperies of the windows ; the 
rich frescos of the ceilings ; the fine paintings, in 
frames of shining gold, that decorate the walls, and 
mostly represent figures and scenes of luxurious and 
seductive import ; the sofas and chairs covered with 
crimson satin ; and, lastly, the long table spread with 
green cloth, whereon great stacks of gold and silver 
coin, bright and shining, are scattered about in such 
profusion, as though they were the chippings of a 
tin-shop. On the table are two fields marked off 
with intersecting lines, into smaller squares and spaces, 
and figures up to thirty-six in number. On the centre 
of the table is the roulette, or wheel ; and around it a 
throng of players and spectators, among both of 
whom there is always a goodly number of females. 
The persons who conduct the play on the part of the 
proprietors are called croupiers, and are seated at both 
sides of the table, like marble figures, except the 
slight movement of their pliant wrists, as they rake 
in the specie from all parts of the green field by means 
of little wooden hoes with long, slender handles. 
They abide the issue of every play with stolid indif- 
ference, being well aware that the odds are constantly 
in their favor, whilst their poor deluded victims shell 



190 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

out " the rhino " with facial jerks and grimaces, as 
though a tooth was sacrificed with every wrench of 
the croupier's wrist. Sometimes, however, a freak of 
chance appears to shower a golden harvest over one 
of the outside players ; but even then they are gene- 
rally so intoxicated with their good fortune that they 
persist in the play until the ill-gotten gains have 
again been swept from them. It is interesting to 
watch the physiognomies of those engaged at play. 
Some of them are old veterans at the fascinating 
deviltry, and stake large amounts when they can do 
it ; but when straitened down to small change, 
this must be risked, too, as bait for the great bulk 
that went ahead. Sometimes the last dollar brings 
back thousands ; and then dozens of new players will 
be drawn into the vortex by such fortunate examples. 
More frequently the last dollar goes after the rest ; 
and then watches and jewelry are sold, and disappear 
after the last dollar ; money is borrowed on the se- 
curity of estates, and these go after the jewelry; 
clothes are sold from their backs, and fade away 
after the estates ; then comes borrowing on personal 
honor, begging and stealing — and the terrible finale 
is of frequent occurrence — that the desperate victim 
rushes from this hell of excitement and blows out his 
brain with a pretty little silver-mounted pistol that 
he borrows for the occasion. But it is wonderful 
how some persons hold out for years and years — 
persons who are not reputed to be rich, yet are ap- 
parently losing as constantly as they are playing. 
In such cases it is supposed the devil has a hand in 
the matter, and you feel like giving them a wide 



GAMING INCIDENTS. 191 

berth in the street. Worst of all of this description, 
are some old women that are to be met with at these 
tables every day. An old countess, eighty years of 
age if she was an hour, was at her place constantly 
from the opening of the play to the last minute. She 
was a deliberate, silent, sinister-looking, wrinkled 
beldame, and I am sure she could not jump over a 
broom, for other reasons than old age. Many of the 
participators in this feast of madness, on the other 
hand, are young adventurers, who may be safely said 
to indulge in this sort of thing but once in their life- 
time, when it either " makes or breaks " them — and 
these have but a limited control over their expres- 
sions. As illustrations of the different characters, I 
saw an antiquated dame, embellished most unbecom- 
ingly with ribbons and flowers, dismiss her twenty- 
franc pieces one after the other, her lingers all the 
while twitching, and her feet beating a tattoo on the 
floor, as if she was operating on a sewing-machine, 
and every stitch she made was a trifle out of pocket. 
A young fellow with unexceptionable moustache, 
and encased in exquisite garments, deposited a roll 
of a thousand francs upon one of the figures of the 
table, and a minute after he raked in thirty-six 
thousand, exchanged them for bills, which he stuck 
in his pocket, then turned on his heels and walked 
oft". Another man lost, in the course of two hours, 
seventy-four thousand francs, then retired, lit a cigar, 
and rambled along the woods with a countenance as 
serene and unconcerned as that of a sleeping infant. 
The Prince of Wales — who is also the prince of 
good fellows — has been sojourning here some weeks; 



192 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

and lie visits the Roulette daily, squanders, for the 
fashion of it, a couple of thousand francs with good- 
natured indifference, "just" — as he says — " to help 
the thing- along." 

A young girl had won, in rapid succession, to the 
amount of twenty thousand, and was all smiling and 
joyous with her success, not able in the least to sup- 
press her triumphant feelings ; but she continued 
playing, and her " fickle fortune " taking a turn, she 
lost not only everything she had won, but laid down 
her last napoleon as if she was parting for ever from 
her lover, with tears in her eyes and distraction de- 
picted in every lineament of her face. 

It is remarkable that the passion for gaming ap- 
pears stronger in women than in men, which is pro- 
bably owing to the circumstance that they procure 
money through their operations on the opposite sex, 
and are strangers to the cares and anxieties with 
which it is generally acquired by these. Though 
between their lovers and this expensive taste for 
gaming, the women who resort here have an exciting 
time of it. Many of them are of the grisettes of 
Paris, and of the demi-monde of other large cities, and 
have journeyed hither under the guardian wings of 
paramours, who too frequently are truant to relations 
of a stronger tie, in order to enjoy a short season of 
stolen and unlawful pleasure. 

The excesses of luxury and extravagance that are 
indulged in by these fair beings, whose name is 
frailty, are quite astounding to people of circum- 
scribed ideas on such matters. I have seen them 
defying their ill fortune at Rouge-et-Noir with arch 



GAMING INCIDENTS. 193 

raillery ; holding their pretty little kid-encased hands 
over their shoulders for fresh supplies, to the swains 
behind their chairs, who are " backers " in the true 
sense — the lovely face, half turned around and up- 
ward — that twinkle of the eyes — that playful smile 
about the lips, with " J'ai toitjours de malheur, man 
cher; mats maintenant je vais Jinir d'un grand coup" 
It is enough : the swain passes with a bland, excru- 
ciating smile, the monetary exactions of love into the 
pretty trap, and away it goes, to be followed by 
another and another similar drainage in precisely the 
same manner. All the while the dulcet cadence of 
the tinkling gold goes on, and men and women are 
tortured with hopes and fears, as it shuffles and shifts 
into or for ever out of their possession. 

In conclusion, if any person expects to behold me 
returning to mine home arrayed in white cashmere 
vest, with heavy chain and ponderous seals, a flash- 
ing gem upon my bosom, and tilting hat upon my 
head, let me kindly suggest to him to be prepared 
for disappointment, 
is 



LETTER XIII. 

HEIDELBERG. — FOURTH OF JULY. 

HEIDELBERG. — FO URTH OF JUL Y. — THE AMERICAN FLAG. 
MANHE1M AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. — VISIT TO WORMS.— 
DRIVE TO BENSHEIM. — RELIGIOUS MEETING IN THE 
WOODS. 

Cologne, July, 1867. 

IT was the Fourth of July, and I was at Heidelberg. 
No flags nor festal trimmings ; no gala-day at- 
tires ; no stalls with spruce beer and ginger-cakes 
and candies ; no music, wherein the drum and fife do 
double duty ; no processions of gayly uniformed vol- 
unteers, or handsome firemen, whose shirts rival the 
lily and the rose, and whose shining belts are only 
excelled by the dazzling splendor of the polished and 
be-wreathed and be-ribboned "apparatus;''" no fire- 
crackers or double-headed dutchmen — not to be too 
certain of the latter — by day; no pin- wheels, and 
rockets, and Roman candles by night ; no hurrahs ; 
no loud and boisterous hilarity ; no grandiloquent 
orations on the " great and glorious" occasion ; but a 
quiet, warm, and ordinary summer day, just as any 
other working-day in the month of July might be. 
I arose betimes, and ascending the mountain against 
which Heidelberg appears to lean to keep itself 
straight, I felt like greeting the rising sun with a 
shout like a Choctaw war-whoop. I would have 
given worlds — had worlds been mine to give away — 

(194) 



THE CASTLE. 195 

for a few salvos of the eloquent cannon without whose 
welcoming voice it almost seemed impossible for the 
sun to rise on Independence Day. 

Meanwhile, having arrived at the famous castle, I 
wandered about among its. ivy-clad ruins, wrapt in 
wonder and amazement, that those colossal walls, of 
twenty feet in thickness should have fared so badly 
during war-times as they have. It is the grandest 
remnant of a feudal stronghold throughout all Ger- 
many, and affords a theme for sober reflection in the 
contrast which it presents, as a monument of the in- 
stability of art, with the perpetual rejuvenescence of 
Mature, as shown by the old ivy that has garlanded 
these walls for hundreds of years. But the subject 
has two sides, like every other proposition, and this 
old castle encloses an awful evidence of the fallibility 
of nature — at least of human nature — in the shape 
of a huge cask or tun, capable of holding fifty thou- 
sand gallons, that has thrice been filled with wine, 
and as many times exhausted, to slake the perennial 
thirst of this same human nature. "Walking along 
the terrace situated to the right of the ruin, I arrived 
at a point from whence I recognized at a glance the 
subject of a painting in the possession of a friend at 
home, and which I unhesitatingly aver to be one of 
the most faithful reproductions of a grand and beau- 
tiful scene that I ever beheld. If the painting were 
mine, now that I have seen the original of its subject, 
and the sharp tooth of necessity was making itself 
felt, I might be tempted to hunger and thirst a trifle 
rather than part with so precious a piece of art. 

After dreamily wandering about a long while in 



196 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the beautiful grove that constitutes the Sttickgarten, 
at the rear of the castle, and forms, among other 
uses, a botanical school of trees for the benefit of the 
students who attend the celebrated university of Hei- 
delberg ; and after having visited also the Molken- 
kur further up, on the brow of the mountain, and 
the Kaiserstuhl on its top, which presents a lovely 
and far-reaching prospect, embracing the spires of 
Strasburg and Worms, the beautiful valleys of the 
Neckar and the Rhine, the sombre outlines of the 
Black Forest and the Odenwald, I descended again 
into the town ; and while walking along the street 
that runs parallel with and near the promenade called 
the Anlage, my attention was attracted by a beauti- 
ful American flag floating luxuriantly in the breeze 
from an extended staff on the balcony of what was, 
apparently, a private residence. A young gentleman 
was leaning over the railing of the balcony ; and ad- 
dressing him in English, I said, in a random way, not 
knowing but that it might be the residence of our 
Consul, " What does that flag represent ? " To which 
he instantly replied, in the good Yankee vernacular, 
" It represents me ; I 'm an American, and to-day is 
the Fourth of July." " Hurrah ! " said my American 
friend, who of course was along with me ; " wait a 
bit, young man ; I will be with you in a jiffy." Say- 
ing which, we joined the personage addressed, who is 
from Wilkesbarre, Pa., and who greeted us with 
great cordiality, appearing as highly delighted as 
ourselves at an opportunity for passing the remainder 
of the day not in utter exclusiveness. We soon began 
to " celebrate ;" and although our party was small, it 



A CELEBRATION. 197 

was none the less patriotic, and none the less thorough 
in the little details of the celebration. My American 
friend especially was very happy ; and on adjourning, 
in the afternoon, to the Prince Carl Hotel, distin- 
guished for the talented manner in which its worthy 
host caters to the gustatory wants of the most fas- 
tidiously epicurean guests, the sun had not yet fin- 
ished its declining course, when he propounded the 
voluntary assertion, that " Longfellow is the gr-gr- 
greatest po-po-poet that ever lived ; because he was — 
hie — aware of the — hie — remarkable fact that — hie ! 

" At Bacheracli on the Rhine, 
At Hochheim on the Main, 
At Wurzburg on the Stein, 
Grow the three best kinds of wine.'" 

Aside from the castle, and the peculiar phase of 
life exhibited by its belligerent students, there is but 
little to be said of Heidelberg. It is prettily situated, 
has a few handsome churches and public buildings, a 
university frequented by some eight hundred stu- 
dents ; but has nothing else to distinguish it from 
the generality of towns. 

A half hour's ride on the railroad brought me to 
Manheim, situated at the head of navigation on the 
river Rhine. This city is laid out in a hundred 
squares, with the precision of a chess-board, and is 
in that respect the handsomest town that I have vis- 
ited. It has a fine theatre ; the same in which Schil- 
ler himself directed the performance of some of his 
best dramas, as the " Robbers," and "Fiesco." On 
the square fronting the theatre are situated three 
excellent monumental statues in bronze, the centre 



198 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

one representing Schiller, and those on the sides two 
eminent delineators of his plays on the stage. Man- 
heim is quite a commercial town, and among other 
things with which I have seen the boats at the wharf 
loaded, was coal, or rather coal-dirt, brought from 
the Ruhr district of Prussia. I inquired, of an offi- 
cial, what this stuff sold at, and what it was used 
for. He mentioned a fabulous price, and said it was 
burned in stoves for heating purposes. I told him 
where, probably, great quantities of such material 
might be had for nothing ; whereupon his face bright- 
ened with prospective happiness, as though he had a 
great not Ion to go and get some. If he should ever 
call on the proprietors of the great coal-banks at St. 
Clair, I hope those gentlemen will give him all the 
black dust that he yearns for, and not stickle with 
him about the price. 

There is abundance of fruit in this country ; and 
of the different species, the cherry especially is very 
large and succulent. I have seen plenty of them 
nearly the size of walnuts. It is a pleasure to walk 
through the market square of any of these German 
cities in the morning, and see the numerous baskets 
loaded with cherries, gooseberries, whortleberries, rasp- 
berries, apricots, pears, &c, and sold by women from 
the different parts of the country, attired in all man- 
ner and fashion of costumes. 

The animated scenes of bustle, and indiscriminate 
chatter between the throngs of buyers and sellers, are 
truly amusing, and afford an excellent repast for the 
philosophical student of human nature. ~Not con- 
tent, however, with this kind of repast, I approached, 



HOW THE MONEY GOES. 199 

one day, near noon-time, a fair vendress of gooseber- 
ries, for which I feel an innate gustatory infirmity, 
(I mean for the berries, not the vendress,) and these 
having an appearance exceedingly big and luscious, I 
requested the fair peasant-girl to mete me out an 
equivalent quantity for six kreuzers ; but when I 
found that my demand involved the possession of a 
half-peck basket, my acquisitiveness was reduced to 
two kreuzer's worth — two kreuzers constitute about 
a penny and a half of our money — and the result was 
such a quantity, that I luxuriated in gooseberries till 
I was incapacitated from participating of any other 
food until supper. I mention this little matter, be- 
cause it stands prominent in my mind as the cheapest 
dinner I ever ate in my life. 

Let me not be understood to imply that this 
"swinging around the circle" in Europe is unat- 
tended by expense. Ah ! no. The pocket that in the 
morning was musical with the jingle of guilders and 
kreuzers, will show a lack of principal and be devoid 
of interest in the evening, with no two metallic sur- 
faces to rub against each other a doleful dirge to the 
departed ducats. Landlords and clerks, servants and 
porters ; little ragged boys, and little ditto girls, who, 
as Byron says, " offer flowers for nothing, but expect 
presents of shiny bits of silver in return ; " railroaa 
officials ; baggage smashers and guides, all act upon 
your "pecuniary resources" like a screen with gaping 
interstices, and in constant agitation. You arrive at 
a hotel, register your name, and signify that you hail 
from U. S. A. ; in an instant everybody in town 
knows it, and — prepares to fleece you. 



200 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

I have recently been, methinks a little prematurely, 
the prey of Worms, to say nothing about the diet 
That is, to couch the subject in a ditty, and give it 
in explicit terms, I've paid my footing through the 
city which people designate as Worms. Yet, truth 
to say, I shall take with me from this venerable 
town some of the pleasantest reminiscences that have 
thus far followed up my European trail. For here I 
enjoyed the privilege, the first time since I quitted 
the shores of America, of entering the domestic circle 
of a private family, even as one of its own members ; 
of sitting down by the frugal meal prepared by the 
skilful hands of a busy, bustling, happy little house- 
wife, with the smiling faces of pretty children 
around me, beaming as so many blessings upon the 
occasion. It was an "oasis in a desert'' of hotels — 
a gurgling spring of refreshing water in a monoto- 
nous wilderness (if the figure is allowed) of dry bread. 

And then the old cathedral. How grand and awe- 
inspiring it presents itself before the view ! How 
close and massive it appeared before my chamber- 
window of the Alten Kaiser Hotel ! It seemed to 
fill up all out-doors, and created space appeared to 
shrink up close around this structure, like the man- 
tle of night upon a Parian statue. Its half dozen 
lowers, whose walls are eight feet thick, have been a 
citadel in times of war, and the church a refuge for 
the people when the surrounding city was burned to 
ashes. Ancient, and grand, and venerable it looks, 
with the grass growing in many places out of the 
crevices between the stones. Its tolling bells convey 
their solemn notes far up and down the Ehine, 



WORMS— ITS ATTRACTIONS. 201 

mingling with the distant peals from other churches 
bordering on the Odenwald, in the lovely villages of 
Eppenheim, Lambertheim, and Bensheim ; reverbe- 
rating from the castles of Starkenburg and Auer- 
bach ; passing, still, in faint melody over the head of 
the Melibochus. I wandered along the streets whence 
Luther came when he entered Worms, to appear be- 
fore the Diet of April, 1521, in order to defend his 
doctrine in the presence of Charles V., six electors, 
and a numerous assembly of ecclesiastical judges. 
At Pfiffigheim the wonderful and monstrously large 
tree, about eight feet in diameter, which is known 
by the name of Luther's tree, presented itself to my 
admiring gaze. Tradition says, that here the great 
Protestant founder was preaching to a multitude of 
people one day, and during his discourse he thrust a 
stick into the earth, saying : " As surely as this stick 
will grow and become a tree, so surely are these 
things true that I say unto you." The present tree 
of such immense proportions is said to be the result. 
Tradition is a little at fault, however, in not convey- 
ing the explicit knowledge whether the stick had a 
root to it, or whether it was a real, whittled, polished, 
and varnished walking-cane. 

An object of interest to the antiquarian at "Worms, 
is the synagogue, which is said to date its existence 
as far back as 588 B. C, to the time of the first de- 
struction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The 
Jewish community, worshipping here, is said to be 
one of the oldest in Germany. Attached to the 
most ancient portion of the building is the chapel of 
Paschi, who was the first and most learned expounder 



202 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of the Thora, and taught in this chapel in the ninth 
century. 

At one time the population of Worms was over 
sixty thousand. Now it is but eleven thousand ; but 
the city is richer at present than it was then. There 
is great business activity in it, and its commercial 
products consist of wine, grain, tobacco, and leather. 
Opulent patent-leather manufacturers reside here in 
stately palaces ; and one, who is said to be the pos- 
sessor of several million florins, has one of the finest 
botanical gardens I have ever seen. His hot-houses 
contain a variety of rare palms and many tropical 
plants. Attached to his garden is a pleasure-room, 
dedicated to reading, smoking, card-playing, and the 
dear knows what. Then there is a billiard as well 
as a bowling-room, got up in gorgeous style- The 
garden is bordered on one side by the highest por- 
tion of the town wall still remaining ; the top of 
which serves as a promenade, and affords a good 
view of the surrounding landscape. The city is en- 
tirely encircled by an avenue of linden and poplar 
trees, which during the blossoming season convey a 
delicious fragrance to the neighboring atmosphere. 
Here, too, the sweet songsters of the air, the lovely 
nightingales, still pour forth their enchanting music, 
that touches the heart as with a wand of love and 
kindness, as the mellow warblings come gushing 
through one's open windows at the break of day. 

" Schmelzend floted Philomele 
Tief im dunkeln Pappelhain; 
Liebe haucht aus ihrer Seele, 
Klage kann ihr Lied nicht sein." 



ACROSS THE RHINE. 203 

"Think every morning when the sun peeps through 

The dim leaf-latticed windows of the grove, 
How jubilant the happy birds renew 

Their old, melodious madrigals of love! 
And when you think of this, remember, too, 

'Tis always morning somewhere, and above 
The awakening continents from shore to shore, 

Somewhere the birds are singing evermore." 

With several members of the family before alluded 
to, with whom I resided during my week's stay at 
Worms, I took a drive to Bensheim, across the Rhine, 
about ten miles distant. It was at sunrise of a beau- 
tiful Sabbath morning that we drove over the bridge 
of boats which here spans the proud river of many 
legends. Our conveyance was an elegant barouche, 
drawn by a proud span of Norman bays, and the 
equipage was altogether one of the finest I had seen 
in Europe, outside of Paris. The excursion of that 
day will always remain prominent as one of the most 
delightful reminiscences of this period of my life. 

Our journey extended over a vast plain of fields 
in the highest state of cultivation. One crop of hay 
had been harvested, and a second was near at hand, 
from as rich, tall, and blooming grass as could be 
wished for. The grain was almost ready for the 
sickle, and the ripening fruit on the trees bordering 
the roadsides, glittered under the first streaks of the 
rising sun, like pretty toys and sugar-plums on illu- 
minated Christmas-trees. How balmy and sweet- 
scented was the atmosphere from all this thrifty 
vegetation ! Here and there we crossed a little stream 
of water, hedged in on both sides, and wending its 
tortuous course through the little valleys of the wavy 



204 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

plain for miles without getting out of the range of 
sight. Toward the end of our journey, and when 
the warmth of a midsummer day was already begin- 
ning to manifest itself, our road suddenly brought us 
through a forest for the space of nearly a mile. The 
trees were tall veterans, that had withstood unharmed 
the storms and blasts of many years ; their far-reach- 
ing branches, compactly clothed in deep-dyed foliage, 
sheltered us so effectually from the sun, that it was 
almost chilly to anybody not warmed up with enthu- 
siasm at the beautiful surroundings. 

My American friend burst out with the exclama- 
tion : " "What a splendid place this would be for a 
Camp-meeting ! " And then, as if his words had 
wrought an act of enchantment, we suddenly arrived 
upon a collection of good and pious people, who were 
actually having a bush-meeting for the good of their 
souls, and possibly a little for the enjoyment of their 
senses. There were no seats or tents or pulpit or any 
other evidence of even a temporary habitation ; but 
the meeting was on its feet, in a migratory condi- 
tion, ready at a moment's notice to transpose itself 
to any other spot at the first warning shake of the 
finger of authority. It looked very much as if it 
wanted to be persecuted, like the ancestral flocks in 
the early days of Christianity ; but there was no 
evidence of its being gratified in this respect. The 
worship consisted principally of solemn singing of 
the old orthodox Lutheran hymns, interspersed with 
short, sententious prayers, and occasional words of 
exhortation from the most anointed among their 
number. On our way back in the evening, as we 



A RIDE THROUGH THE COUNTRY. 205 

were passing this place again, and found that the 
meeting had dispersed, my American friend surprised 
us all with the exclamation : " Have any of you ever 
taken 

A Drive to a Camp-Meeting ? " 

" Have you ever, my friend," (addressing himself 
especially to me,) " assisted, not in the French, but in 
any sense, at a genuine, old-fashioned, Pennsylvania 
camp-meeting? Not one of those monster assem- 
blages of devout Christians who congregate by thou- 
sands under hundreds of canvas tents and slab-board 
edifices, in the far-off wilds of the uncivilized West ; 
but a nice, cosy, comfortable gathering of some thirty 
or forty muslin tabernacles of the righteous, all in a 
ring or quadrangle, the pulpit — that holiest of the 
holy — included, it being the only ligneous structure 
of the entire circle ; and whereon, seated upon an im- 
perishable, unyielding bench, are always to be seen, 
when not at breakfast, dinner, or supper, (and such 
breakfasts, dinners, and suppers !) the never-deviating 
number of ten — that's the figure; I never found 
it otherwise in my life — ten Teutonic-looking, brown- 
haired, no-whiskered, strong-featured, shad-belly 
coated ministers of the Gospel. Such a camp-meet- 
ing as you can only find — and it's a great comfort 
that you can find them, even at this day — during 
the month of August, when people who don't know 
better go to Newport, Cape May, Saratoga, Niagara, 
and all the other equally stupid places, such as you 
can find, I repeat, scattered all over the sylvan groves 
of the good, old, fertile Keystone State, where people 



206 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

live in that happy condition that always follows the 
consciousness of serving God "with all their might." 

" And then again — for a thing is not done at all if 
not rightly done — if you have been to such a camp- 
meeting, then how did you go, my dear fellow? tell me 
that ! Were you sitting in a solid country buggy, 
with a horse in front, trotting over the turnpike of 
like the very dickens ? 

" And had you a beautiful young country girl, full 
of heart and sense, and wild as the old Scratch him- 
self, seated upon your right knee, with the reins in 
her right hand, driving Billy, whilst the left encir- 
cled your neck, and the little plump hand attached 
to the arm caught hold miscellaneously of all promi- 
nent places in its vicinity, such as your nose, ears, or 
whiskers ? And did her rosy little mouth every now 
and then come in collision with your own, and the 
two 'jintly ' produce a concussion like the report of 
a little pocket-pistol, perhaps accidentally, perhaps to 
make the horse run faster, but more, perhaps, the 
natural ebullition of your wild hearts that were boil- 
ing over with too much of something — I don't know 
what ? Say, were you ever at such a camp-meeting, 
my boy ; and did you go in such a way ? No ? Bless 
my soul I But hold 1 What a thing it is to arrive 
at last — horse, buggy, sweetheart, and all — at the 
woods ! You heard the shouting and hallelujahs 
two miles distant already — quite different from the 
solemn affair we just passed, I assure you. You 
drive in, among and between the trees. The branches 
brush the flies from the horse's back, and he neighs 
in gratitude as he approaches the hallowed precinct. 



DRIVE TO A CAMP-MEETING. 207 

They brush — the branches, not the flies — along the 
rosy cheeks of your sweetheart, who screams ; but 
laughs out loudly directly, to find herself not hurt, 
and her cheeks more rosy than ever. 

" They brush your hat off, and get entangled with 
your hair, till you're in danger of the fate of Absa- 
lom ; but your horse is no Bucephalus, and has a 
generous instinct worthy of his genus. He stops ; 
you disengage your hair from the pesky branches, 
squeeze your hat over your head down to the eye- 
brows, and renew your course between the trees and 
through the woods more cautiously than before. 
The foliage sweeps the dust from your buggy. The 
dry twigs and leaves rustle and snap, and fly off in 
all directions from under its wheels, startling a timid 
squirrel who runs up the tallest tree, and still looks 
doubtfully down upon you, as if he expected to see 
you come driving up the tree — horse, buggy, sweet- 
heart, and all; — startling, also, a woodpecker, who 
stops hammering for worms, hides behind a cluster 
of leaves, and eyes you not less suspiciously than the 
squirrel, till you have passed. And then, at last, 
those temporary habitations of unbleached muslin 
are seen like patches of sky glimmering through the 
woods — now lost to sight again — and now again 
you are full in front of them. You alight and un- 
bridle the animal ; tie him to a tree, and take a silent 
and revengeful satisfaction on observing his ferocious 
attack upon all the young birch twigs within his 
reach. You take Rose — her name may be Lily, or 
anything else, for that matter — around the waist, 
and she bounds from the vehicle like a thing of air. 



208 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

You link her arm in yours, and march her through 
the narrow entrance into the consecrated sphere, 
down the aisle between the rudely constructed 
benches, and find yourselves seated among the saints 
or gentiles, as the case may be, listening to the 
sermon. Listening ? Likely you are ; but vastly 
more likely you are eating candies, and exchanging 
love-mottoes with Rose. After the sermon, you wait 
half an hour to see the rush of sinners that want to 
be converted, and listen to their clamorous prayers, 
wofully commingled with the equally clamorous re- 
joicing, ' shouting,' and clapping of hands of the 
sinners who are converted. And then you leave Rose 
with a friend of hers, and go off with Charley, a 
friend of yours, to stroll about the woods a while. 
But wherefore stroll about the woods, eh ? Oho ! 
you want me to keep mum ! Well, I am good- 
natured, and to oblige you, I will ; — only I hope 
that that isn't you, nor that companion of yours, 
Charley, who are rushing out of the adjoining corn- 
field, each with one of Klinger's watermelons under 
the arm, toward your buggy. 

" It is night, and I cannot distinguish the features 
in the darkness — they may belong to others ; at 
least, I hope so ; for I have no hesitation in saying 
that it's very wrong to go to camp-meeting for the 
purpose of stealing watermelons. Mercy me ! it is 
you, after all ; for there I see you coming from the 
benches with Rose hanging to your arm, whilst you 
are chuckling; all the while and tellins: her what a 
capture you have made, and what a treat you have 
in store for her. You seat her in your buggy ; pull 



DRIVE TO A CAMP-MEETING. 209 

a great big jack-knife out of your pocket, cut her a 
nice, large slice of the juicy fruit, and are just cutting 
another for yourself, when suddenly she bursts out 
laughing — oh, how wickedly! — slaps you on the 
cheek and cries out : ' My goodness gracious me ! 
how could you be so stupid ? Why it 's a pumpkin I ' 
and laughs like mad again, whilst you hang your 
head and felt never so sheepish in all your life. 
Verily, sin is often attended by its own punishment. 
But you have some comfort in the reflection that 
Charley feels sheepish too ; so you and Charley make 
the best of a bad bargain, and laugh at yourselves 
more boisterously than the girls, if not more heartily, 
whilst you get ready to start for home. 

" Leading the horses, you glide carefully, like con- 
science-stricken (as you are) spectres, through the 
woods ; for it is near midnight now, and the pale 
moon, not more than two hours in the ascendant, 
casts a long shadow of your " establishment " to your 
right, which sneaks along in noiseless stealth, con- 
trasting greatly with the sound caused by the real 
horse and buggy, made doubly loud and awful in the 
solemn stillness of the night. 

" You reach the open road at last ; and away you 
drive, past woods and fields and solitary habitations; 
startling the fowls perched upon the trees and roost- 
ing on the fences of farm-yards, as you whirl along. 
Away you drive, rumbling over bridges that span 
small creeks and runs, startling the little sun-fish 
and other small fry that have taken their night 
quarters upon the pebble-stoned bottom underneath. 
Your friend Charley and his sweetheart are before 

14 



210 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

you. His friend Aleck and his sweetheart are behind 
you. And all three of you, with your three sweet- 
hearts, are singing something lively in camp-meeting 
style, making the night-air resound again as you pass 
along. Away you drive, like a treble elopement, 
with the three brides' three fathers, the sheriff and a 
whole army of constables after you ; but you care not 
for the pursuit, singing and shouting and laughing 
as you fly along. Away you drive ; not heeding the 
delicious fragrance that the gentle night zephyrs 
waft over you from yon orchard pregnant with 
mellow fruit, startling again the little birds in their 
nests among the apples, peaches, and plums, and 
making the plaintive air of the whippoorwill hover- 
ing overhead more plaintive still. Away and away 
you drive ; rattling over the broken stones of the 
new-made road at the entrance of the little village 
where you live. Aleck has left you to drive ctown a 
little street that contains six houses, a cider-press, and 
a little shoemaker shop. Charley is just turning 
down another little street that has lots enough to 
build twenty houses on. And you are trundling on 
a hundred yards further, if not more, to that beauti- 
ful two-story white house, which is Rose's home. 
You alight from the buggy; help Rose to do the 
same ; give her a good-night kiss at parting under 
the door, and off you go, another hundred yards, to 
your own home. There arrived, you unhitch your 
good, faithful, darling Billy; you almost feel like 
taking him around the neck to hug him for affording 
you so much happiness with Rose ; then lead him to 
his bed of straw ; and retire to your chamber — not 



DRIVE TO A CAMP-MEETING. 211 

to sleep, but to dream of Rose, and camp-meeting, 
and pumpkins all jumbled up together." 

As my American friend thus wound up this lengthy 
and rhapsodical apostrophe, which had evidently 
carried him away to other days, we observed that 
our German friends were sound asleep. They did 
not understand a word of what had been so enthusi- 
astically declaimed ; and this rattle of English words 
had acted like a gentle lullaby to their drowsy senses. 

Crossing the bridge homeward over the Rhine, the 
noisy tramp of the horses, with the gentle soughing 
of the night- wind and the splashing of the water 
against the boats, was sufficient to waken them ; and 
rubbing his eyes after a little yawn, my cousin from 
"Worms said : " Mein Gott ! das war aber inter essant! " 



LETTER XIV. 

MAYENCE — FORTIFICATIONS. 

MA YENCE—ITS FOR TIFICA TIONS.—FRANKF UR T—NO TABLE 
. HO USES.— IMPERIAL HALL— WIESBADEN.-A MAR VELL US 
SPRING.— THE CURSAAL.— VISIT TO THE CASTLE OF J0- 
HANNISBEBG.— DO WN THE RHINE.— SCENERY, CASTLES 
ETC.— COL OGNE.— CA THEDRAL— INTERESTING FEA TUBES 
OF THE CITY.—CASS'EL.^-UNIVERSITY OF GOETTINGEN— 
ARRIVAL AT NORDUEIM. 

Nordheim, Hanover, July, 1867. 

IN" travelling through Europe it is melancholy to ob- 
serve what a vast amount ol time, talent, labor, and 
money are expended upon the great purpose of war- 
fare among men. Soldiers in gaudy uniforms circu- 
late with swaggering strides, making the day pic- 
turesque, and the night loud with songs of revelry. 
Millions of rifles that were constructed for the fell 
purpose of taking human life, have been suddenly dis- 
covered to be inefficient, condemned untried, and re- 
appear in the arsenals of nations as more worthy 
weapons in the form of needle-guns. Men's ingenuity, 
art, and science are all ingloriously prostituted in the 
construction of deadly missiles. There seems to be a 
jealous rivalry between doctors devising new ways 
and means to save life, on the one hand, and artisans 
that rack their inventive talents for more cunning 
measures to destroy it, on the other. Instead of 
erecting more asylums, school-houses, and universi- 
ties, men barricade themselves from their fellow-men 

(212) 



MAYENCE— ITS FORTIFICATIONS. 213' 

by great bastions and fortifications ; — and of this 
kind of perverted labor the city of Mayence on tbe 
Rhine may be cited as an illustrious example. 

This town is surrounded with walls and trenches 
and citadels to a degree that, if its houses were built 
of mother-of-pearl, with diamond windows ; and its 
streets paved with bricks of gold, running over with 
milk and honey, it could not well be better protected 
than it is from the rapacious covetousness of an in- 
vidious foe. Instead of this it is simply, a very 
respectable old town, that might be a great deal 
larger, and airier, and better off, but for the ugly 
stone belt that cramps it up in such narrow limits, 
and acts as a stricture on its vitality. — Yet, not con- 
tent with its present capacity for resistance, Prussia 
— since her abandonment of Luxemburg — is mak- 
ing this place stronger, if possible, and more impreg- 
nable than ever. "Whatever be the strategic advan- 
tages of this encasement of a people, in this era of 
great guns and destructive columbiads, may be known 
to wiser heads, but is extremely problematical to the 
subscriber. 

About the principal things of interest to be seen at 
Mayence are some old impressions by the inventors of 
the art of printing, Guttenberg and his associates, 
dating from the year 1459 to 1462. "What a great 
discovery that was ! And yet, what would Gutten- 
berg say, could he visit this sublunary sphere, and 
see some of the great cylindrical presses of the present 
time, and watch the act of enchantment that creates 
the literature of our clay. These old relics of print- 
ing, isolated from the world by the grim walls, bris- 



214 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

tling with, cannonry, that surround them — what a 
paradox they present ! My American friend says, 
" The one is the type of barbarism, and the other the 
barbarism of type." 

An hour's ride on the railroad brought me to 
Frankfurt, which has every appearance of an opulent 
and prosperous city, containing many houses built on 
the style of the palatial residences of New York and 
Philadelphia. 

The quaint old house wherein Goethe was born, is 
situated here in one of the narrower streets called the 
Hirschgraben, and is kept in its primitive state by 
the city. The room in which the great German poet 
was accustomed to write is still preserved — so they 
say — as it was in his own time, containing the same 
furniture that it did then. As a curious contrast to 
this, one may visit the original house of the Roth- 
schild family, in the Judengasse, and were the ma- 
ternal parent insisted upon residing to the time of 
her death ; though her sons where almost wielding 
the financial destinies of nations. The house has a very 
ordinary appearance, and is on the narrow, repulsive- 
looking street from which the Jews, in former times, 
were not permitted to issue after sunset, or on Sun- 
days and holidays. They have outlived this tyran- 
nical oppression, however, and are now the occupants 
of some of the handsomest villas of the suburbs. 

The place of the greatest historical interest, in 
Frankfurt, is the Imperial Hall in the Roemer ; where 
the princes of Germany were wont to dine with their 
newly elected Emperor. The walls are embellished 
with life-sized portraits of these Emperors, succes- 



FRANKFURT.— ITS CITIZENS. 215 

sively, from Charlemagne the first, to Francis the 
second, the last Roman Emperor of the German na- 
tion. One of the finest ornaments of the city is the 
magnificent marble stair-case that leads from the la- 
byrinthine basement of the old building to this grand 
Hall of the Emperors. Another is a galvano-plastic 
monumental group, representing Guttenberg, Faust, 
and Schoffer, which is situated in a conspicuously 
open place in the city. There are also two superb 
statues of Goethe and Schiller. The principal busi- 
ness-street, the Zeil, has quite an American aspect ; 
and the suburban promenades are exceedingly Une. 

The citizens of Frankfurt are rather dejected un- 
der the new Prussian regime, and give up their cher- 
ished idea of a free city with quite a touching reluct- 
ance. Besides which, the heavy ransom-tax which 
the wary Bismarck laid on these good people has 
greatly increased the longitude of their faces, and, 
in fact, changed the latitude of the entire place. At 
least, so it would seem from a remark which I caught 
from the lips of a charming young lady, who being 
told that the weather appeared to be very cool and 
dismal in her beautiful Frankfurt, replied : "Ah, sir, 
our climate has been dreadfully chilled since we be- 
long to the Northern Confederation." 

From hence I proceeded to the charming watering- 
place, Wiesbaden ; though watering-^ce is a name 
probably less pertinent than gambling-iplsLce would be ; 
for it is equal in this respect to Baden-Baden. Among 
others who here placed their fortunes on the hazard 
of a wheel, was a young South Carolinian, who had 
crossed the ocean on the same steamer with myself. 



216 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

I believe the young scape-grace lost seriously, for he 
had an air- of extreme financial dilapidation. 

There is a spring here marvellous for the high tem- 
perature of its water, gushing in a thick current from 
the earth, at 158° Fahrenheit. It is rather palatable 
to drink, and has a taste not altogether unlike that 
of thin, highly salted beef-tea. Great confidence is 
placed in its restorative virtues, for invalids affected 
with rheumatism or dyspepsia, aud as an element for 
bathing it is, probably, inferior to none other for its 
tonic effect upon the general system. There are bath- 
ing-establishments in almost all ,the principal hotels, 
to which the water from the hot spring is conducted 
through pipes. To these the decrepit in limb may 
be seen carried by the score on litters and hand-car- 
riages every day during the proper season. 

The Cursaal is the principal place of resort, and 
that, too, where the gaming goes on. It is fitted up 
in the most gorgeous style, and surrounded with 
promenades, fountains, arbors, and walks, that consti- 
tute in all a very pleasant retreat. If any of my 
readers should ever visit Wiesbaden, I would recom- 
mend them to procure their meals at any place in the 
pretty town (and they will be bountifully and satisfacto- 
rily served) but not in the restaurant which is connected 
with the Cursaal, unless they derive peculiar enjoy- 
ment from being most shamefully and outrageously 
swindled. 

A truly beautiful work of art is the Greek Chapel 
on the Neroberg, which was erected by the Duke of 
Nassau as a mausoleum to his first wife, a Russian 
princess. The interior is entirely of marble, and in 



WIESBADEN.— J OH ANNISBERG. 217 

a pentagonal recess is a magnificent monument to 
the Duchess. The recumbent effigy is of the purest 
white marble, and rests on a sarcophagus, at the side 
of which are statuettes of the twelve apostles. Di- 
vine service of the Greek form is held here every Sun- 
day, but the public is not admitted. 

Not being very far from the castle of Johannisberg, 
and having often wondered why the wine of that 
estate is so greatly lionized, and stands conspicuous 
with such a wonderful difference of price over all the 
other wines named on the lists of the hotels, I was 
curious enough to visit that place, explore its subter- 
ranean mysteries, and sip the daintiest morsel from a 
goblet of the genuine Nectar. Now, although it is 
commonly supposed that the great Prince Metter- 
nich, who is the lawful owner of this new Parnassus, 
is so churlish and ungracious as to withhold his lus- 
cious liquids from all but a few, select, patrician 
throats, whose hydrometric talent he esteems ; and 
interdicts all plebeian footsteps from this sacred soil, 
let me gently whisper into the public ear, that by 
means of that all-potent agent which in our good 
Eepublic we recognize as Dollars and Cents, backed 
up with German eloquence, such as my American 
friend has always at command, it is quite possible to 
" reconstruct" the good old butler who guards these 
precious vaults — yea, they will open almost as 
readily as the cave of the Forty Thieves to a blithe 
word — and a silver key. Seated upon a keg, with 
a small libation to Bacchus in close proximity, I soon 
discovered that the atmosphere of that cavernous 
abode was about as strong and spirituous as the meat 



218 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

in a mince-pie. My American friend, by whose 
opinion I am always gnided in snch matters, snuffed 
in the air, sipped at the goblet, smacked his lips, 
closed his left eye, and looked learnedly with the 
right at the spider-webs on the ceiling, then delivered 
himself of the following Jack Bunsbyan opinion: 
"Either I don't know the difference between one kind 
of sour grape-juice and another, or else the dear good- 
natured pubiic is most egregiously humbugged, and 
I strongly suspect the latter." Satisfied on this point, 
we returned to Mayence, and thence took passage on 
a boat down the Rhine for Cologne. 

At Bingen I tried very hard to see what there was 
" sweet" about it, in the poetic sense ; but the effort 
was fruitless ; and the only interesting thing that I 
could discover was the Mouse Tower, with its won- 
derful legend of Bishop Hatto all exploded by some 
soulless, unromantic writer of recent date, and the 
rock of Ehrenfels. Further down is the really beau- 
tiful castle of Rhinestein, which is a striking orna- 
ment in this naturally picturesque region. The castle 
contains a richly decorated Knights' Hall, in the 
style of the middle ages, and all the apartments with 
their contents are in perfect keeping with the pre- 
dominant idea. Then follow a succession of castles, 
ruins, churches, and small villages, to Bacherach,the 
curious Pfalz, and Obernesel, whose old wall, relieved 
from monotonous uniformity by battlements, gates, 
and turrets, presents a fine scenic effect. According 
to ancient tradition, there resided u once upon a time" 
at Schonberg (an extensive castle situated here) seven 
beautiful young ladies, whose charms had excited 



• DOWN THE RHINE. 219 

many a bloody fray among their noble suitors ; and 
to punish them for their cruelty and coquetry, the 
haughty maidens were cast into the Rhine by a stern 
fairy, and transformed into seven rocks. There is no 
manner of doubt about this story, for I saw the rocks 
myself. — Moral : Young ladies, don't be charming ; 
secondly, don't flirt ; lastly, if you are charming, and 
can't help flirting, don't go near the water, and keep 
away from the inexorable fairies. 

In the descent down this wonderful river follows 
hence the Lurelei, an immense and projecting ledge 
of rocks, that look as though they meant to hurl 
themselves into the stream some dark night and dam 
it up. At this place there is an echo that repeats 
itself some sixteen times. In passing, the officer of 
the boat ordered a gun to be fired, which is a cus- 
tomary performance, I believe, with every boat that 
passes, for the benefit of tourists. Directly the shot 
was fired, it was answered by the echoes, like the 
successive musket-firing along a long picket-line, the 
last shot being faintly heard in the far-off distance 
behind the bend of the river. 

Next we came to St. Goar. This is a small town 
in which, the guide-book tells us, it was at one time 
the custom, whenever a traveller came by that way, 
to seize upon him, and thrust his head into an 
instrument of torture, a species of collar, of which 
the interior was decorated with raised work, consist- 
ing of carpet-tacks or something of that sort. In 
this felicitous condition he was kept till he paid a 
fine, which they levied according to the presumed 
capacities of his purse. If there were any on board 



220 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of our boat who had any misgivings about the com- 
fort of their necks being interfered with in passing 
this awful place, they did not say so, and it is, there- 
fore, not in the power of the writer to record the 
circumstance. 

We soon arrived at the ruins of the two castles, 
Sternberg and Liebenstein, where two brothers lived 
at one time, (it is said by the authority above quoted,) 
and were constantly at loggerheads with each other, 
through the wily machinations of a beautiful Greek 
girl, who, it seems, played the deuce with both their 
hearts. History only records that both* parties died 
in due course of time — a very common event — and 
the point of the story is, it must be confessed, a little 
in the clouds. 

Konigstuhl, the beautiful castle of Stolzenfels, the 
majestic Ehrenbreitstein, and the city of Coblentz are 
successively passed ; and then, after more towns and 
castles and ruins, the old Drachenfels, the grandest 
ruin of them all, makes its appearance. Grim and 
jagged, like a weather-beaten sentinel of the old 
guard of the seven hills, it stands there, menacing 
and weird, defying the thunderbolts of Heaven, and 
frowning over the rugged surface of its parent earth. 

Next comes the city of Bonn, with its beautiful 
environs, but otherwise of no great interest to the 
tourist, save for its excellent university and numerous 
students. 

From Bonn the Rhine flows through a country 
monotonous and level, and we reach, in a short time, 
the city of Cologne ; the crane on the unfinished 
tower of whose renowned cathedral has been visible 



COLOGNE— ITS CATHEDRAL. 221 

for miles, long before anything else of Cologne could 
be seen ; first like a dim speck in the horizon, then 
like a short diagonal rent in the bine sky, and lastly 
like the ominous-looking crooked thing that it is and 
has been these three hundred years and more. 

The great predominant feature, and that which 
casts a smallness upon everything else by comparison, 
is this Cathedral. To describe it with any degree of 
justice would require much space, and I will only 
say, that it is large enough to have built in its inte- 
rior, in the principal nave, six ordinary-sized churches, 
steeples and all ; that it was commenced nearly five 
centuries ago, but was for a long time abandoned, 
and appropriated in war-times to profane uses ; that 
if it will ever be finished, its steeple will be higher 
than any other in existence — some forty feet higher 
than that of Strasburg ; that its architecture is alto- 
gether peculiar in style, and the plan must have been 
an inspiration to the genius who projected it ; that I 
plucked a moss-rose that had grown spontaneously on 
the top of one of its unfinished towers, where the 
seeds must' have been carried by the birds ; that a 
great number of laborers and artisans were working 
at this colossal job, singing in concert all the while 
some charming melody ; that it is not nearly finished, 
but such as it is it constitutes (with the exception, I 
am told, of the Cathedral at Milan, and which I can- 
not comprehend to be possible) the most beautiful 
fragment that was ever dedicated to Divine worship. 

About a mile from the city are the geological and 
botanical gardens, both very superior in their way, 
and a great deal more complete than I had any ex- 



222 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

pectation of finding such institutions here. The 
Museum, in the city, is a very elegant building, and 
contains a great number of old and modern paintings, 
besides a gathering of interesting antiquities, chiefest 
among which are some very ancient manuscripts on 
parchment, illustrated with quaint-looking pictures 
— by hand, of course. In the gallery the principal 
attraction consists in the old Cologne school of paint- 
ings, by Meister Wilhelm and his followers. The 
new synagogue is a rich affair, glittering with copious 
gilding, fine frescoes, carved woodwork, a splendid 
window with painted glass, and in the interior is a 
candelabrum of solid silver that weighs one hundred 
and eighty-six pounds. At one time Cologne had about 
two hundred places of public worship, and was justly 
called the city of churches. Since the first French 
revolution that number has been reduced to about 
twenty-five. 

Not the least interesting feature of this city are 
the Cologne- water establishments ; and there is a 
great rivalry between the two houses, Jean Maria 
Farina and Maria Clementina, though they are both 
of the same family. The latter is in the ascendancy 
just now, having recently received the best prize 
awarded at the Paris Exposition. 

Leaving Cologne, I also parted company with the 
Rhine, and in doing so I must fain acknowledge that 
I was somewhat disappointed with my journey down 
that river. Perhaps I had set my expectations too 
high, which is an error so aptly committed. Its 
scenery is not as grand and picturesque as that which 
borders the shores for the most part of our own beau- 



CASSEL— ITS ATTRACTIONS. 223 

tiful Hudson, and if it were not for the, to an Amer- 
ican, almost unknown, prospect of continuous vine- 
yards, on all manner of shaggy and precipitous slopes, 
and the legendary and historical interest that clus- 
ters around its many medieval castles, I would 
scarcely recognize any excuse for the extravagant 
laudations that poets and enraptured tourists have 
devoted to this river. I cannot even bear testimony 
to the " limpid clearness " that I have read of as 
characterizing its water ; for on the five or six occa- 
sions that I have seen it since the end of May, it was 
always nearly, if not quite, as muddy as the Missis- 
sippi. Great credit is claimed for the boats that nav- 
igate this stream, and they are said to be constructed 
somewhat in imitation of our palatial river steamers, 
but resemble the latter about as much as a common 
mud-scow resembles a New York and Brooklyn fer- 
ry-boat. 

Passing through Marburg and Giessen, both flour- 
ishing towns, and the seats of noted universities, I 
arrived at Cassel, the former capital of Kur Hessen, 
but at present a dependency of Prussia. The great 
centralization-point of all strangers here is the water- 
works of the Wilhelm's Hbhe. These exceed in char- 
acter and extent those of Versailles, near Paris, and 
with the surrounding associations of scenery and the 
noble palace, constitute, upon the whole, a very supe- 
rior alfair. Like nearly all the European cities and 
towns, Cassel is encircled with shady retreats and 
enticing promenades. The old abandoned castle out- 
side of the city, that, doubtless, had its origin some 
centuries ago, and is a stately wreck of by-gone mag- 



224 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

nificence, appears almost conscious of ancestral glory, 
and recognizes no adversity in its very straitened 
circumstances of to-day. Statues in brown stone of 
the old Roman kinga and classics adorn its walls and 
parapets, and throw upon the otherwise naked aspect 
of the building: a somewhat sinister and sardonic 
cast ; and the mockery is completed by a long line 
of tall well-trimmed spruce-trees, planted in ground 
that was confined in what appeared to be medium- 
sized dry-goods boxes, that stand guard, as it were, 
around the dismantled residence, to prevent the 
statues from carrying it away. I felt an involuntary 
sympathy with these poor trees, as suffering terribly 
from corns ; and if a pinched-up footing can ever 
induce such a thing in the vegetable creation, then I 
am sure that my diagnosis was correct. Strolling 
through the streets of the city, I came across a sign, 
outside of a barber-shop, that appeared sufficiently 
amusing to be worthy of mention. It denoted that 
within was an " Amerikanische Kopfwiischerei mit 
Champu," — Anglicized : American Headwashery with 
Shampoo. I might have subjected my head to a 
cleansing operation, with probably some advantage, 
but that siom was too much. It filled me with ter- 
ror, and reminded me of Midshipman Easy's father, 
with the machine for developing phrenological bumps. 
Again on the railway - again drawn forward by 
the great motor, steam, I soon arrived in the lovely 
city of Gottingen, whose scholastic institution was 
associated with the dreams of my boyhood. To me 
Oxford and Cambridge, Yale and Harvard were 
second-rate affairs. The only place where one might 



NORTHEIM, IN HANOVER. 225 

become truly learned was at the University of Got- 
tingen. Oh ! to be a student there, with a red cap, 
a ribbon across my vest, and a long pipe ! Duels 
with rapiers, a scar upon the cheek, to remain there 
a proud relic through the whole of life I What bliss ! 
Oh ! what blissful dreams, never to be realized ! 

Now I approach my native town — the dear little 
Northeim, from which I was carried when an infant. 
From under the cobwebs of lime just enough of the 
romance of an ardent nature peers forth, to cause a 
little palpitation, and awake a reflective feeling of 
pleasure not unmixed with a shade of sadness. From 
afar off the only steeple of the town is visible. It 
belongs to the old church that has stood there more 
than four hundred years. To approach that sacred 
edifice is an impulse not to be resisted. The door 
yields, and in a moment the earnest man, with bowed 
head and deep veneration, stands at that altar where 
as an infant he was held over the baptismal font. 
"Were it not better to drink of the waters of Lethe, 
and forget all of the interval between these two 
occasions ? God knows 1 God only knows ! 
15 



LETTER XV. 

A TOWN IN GERMANY. 

A GERMAN TOWN. — RURAL LIFE.— THE DWELLINGS. — A 
DIGNIFIED GAME OF NINE-PINS. — MY AMERICAN FRIEND 
ROLLS, AND PRODUCES A (< PUMPE." — A FINE SULPHUR 
SPRING. — A DANCING HALL. — THE DELHI 10 US WA L TZ. — 
LIFE AT THE BRUNNEN AND IN THE TOWN— CLOSE OF 
THE DA Y A T THE " HOTEL SONNE.- 

Berlin, July. 1867. 

WOULD the reader know aught of a German town 
not metropolitan in character, and of German 
life in its more rural aspect? Then let his fancy 
wander to that new portion of Prussian territory, 
where the rivers Leine and Rhume form a junction 
at right angles, the former running through the 
highly cultured valley from the direction of G-ottin- 
gen, and the latter winding its course through the 
undulating ground from the Hartz mountains ; and, 
though of small and placid appearance generally, yet 
will it swell up occasionally after fall and winter 
freshets, and inundate wide portions of the more 
level countries through which it flows. Receding 
back from these rivers in the angle of their confluence, 
on a plateau of the least elevation, and skirting the 
foot of the gently rising Wieter mountains, is the 
town whereof we write, with a steady population of 
about five thousand souls. The style of architecture 
is very unlike any generally adopted in our own 
country, the houses consisting principally of skeletons 

(226) 



NORTHEIM—ITS BUILDINGS. 227 

of heavy frame scantling and joists, the interspaces 
of which are walled up with bricks of an inferior 
character, or stones, and the surface plastered over 
with lime-and-sand mortar. The frame-work of the 
windows, doors, cornices, and wood-work generally 
are heavy and clumsy, and the roofs composed of 
ponderous guttered tiles manufactured from potter's 
clay. Many of the olden houses are built in such a 
way that each succeeding story from below upward, 
protrudes forward from one to two feet farther into 
the street than the story immediately beneath, so 
that the upper portions of houses on opposite sides 
of a narrow street almost approach each other. Xor 
is their interior arrangement as well and practical as 
our own. There is a want of taste, of symmetrical 
division, of the proper adaptation of space, and the 
proportionment of halls and staircases. As yet I 
have seen nothing like an elegant door-knob ; but in 
their places are uncouth levers by which the latch is 
raised, that resemble the handles with which our 
engineers open the steam-valves of a locomotive. 
Carpets, as a covering for halls, stairs, parlors, or 
chambers, are unknown, and the nearest approach to 
anything of the kind is occasionally a rug by the side 
of a bed or sofa. The stoves are horrid, monstrous, 
misshapen contrivances, the very looks of which are 
enough to chill a body to the marrow. The furniture 
is solid and durable, excellent in quality, and often 
very richly upholstered ; but there is also a want of 
elegance and lightness in the pieces ; though excep- 
tional secretaries, bureaus, and clocks may be seen 
that are very ingenious mechanisms. Eosewood, 



228 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

walnut, or mahogany veneerings are rarely met with ; 
but in their stead, ashwood — constituting, when 
polished, furniture of a bright yellow — beech, ebony, 
&c. The pianos in general use are of the upright, 
cabinet form, and considerably inferior to our Ameri- 
can manufacture. In corroboration of this I need 
only say that the best prizes at the Paris Exposition 
were awarded to Chickering and Steinway of the 
United States. The above general description of 
dwellings is not peculiar to the town under our im- 
mediate observation ; but may be taken, with ex- 
ceptional instances of large and modernized cities, 
for all Europe. 

To return to the subject : Let us commence at the 
Miihlengate, and outside of the old walls that only 
partially remain, promenade all around the town by 
the beautiful gardens that are intersected by hedges 
of box, currant, sweet-brier, or other bushy vegeta- 
tion ; for the citizens, instead of having gardens at- 
tached to their houses, have them thus outside of the 
town. "We arrive at the Hockelheimer gate, pass 
into and traverse the place through the Breite Strasse, 
which is its principal street, say, " Oaten morgen- 
morgen" and take off our hat to everybody we meet ; 
then enter at " Vetter Eduard's" take a happen bread 
and a betten metwurst, then we stroll leisurely past the 
brewery, — it is not finished, or we would not talk so 
lightly about passing ft, — we make our exit through 
the Obere gate, and meander along till we get to the 
Brunnen. 

The Brunnen constitutes the capitolium of social 
life for miles around. The gay students from Got- 



A GAME OF NINE-PINS. 229 

tingen, the young Prussian dragoons from Northeim, 
and the blonde peasant girls from Hamstett and 
Osterode all converge here in one brilliant focus. 
The seat for all festive occasions, Schiitzenfeste, target 
practice, May-day frolics, aud games of all kinds 
among the young folks, is here at the Brunnen, — 
while the staid old pillars of the town congregate in 
semi- weekly rejuvenescence, under the shed of the 
old bowling-alley, that rejoices in this glorious situa- 
tion, and indulge in a dignified game of nine-pins, or 
the ten-pins of our own country. Carefully the Iierr 
Biirgermeister gathers up his coat-tail in his left 
hand, poises the bowling-ball in his right, and rolls it 
with swift velocity toward the pins. It strikes, and 
reduces fi.ve of them hors-du-combat, one is a " wack- 
eler," but three stand firnrlike the cedars of Lebanon. 
The Herr Biirgermeister has one of the kindliest faces 
imaginable, illuminated by an eminently Grecian and 
the least bit florid nose ; turning its beaming light 
upon his associates, he resumes the recital of a diffi- 
cult law case, involving somebody's pig and somebody 
else's dog, which he adjudicated in the morning to 
the perfect satisfaction of all parties concerned. Up 
starts his prime minister the Herr Syndicus ; seizes 
the ball as he would a feather, and hurls it at the 
pins as if his soul was rioting in the very sweetness 
of revenge. Powerless to skedaddle, the poor pins 
await their doom, the square is broken, and they 
topple over in centrifugal directions. " Alle neune! " 
resounds through the entire camp, (which is equiva- 
lent to the Irishman's cry of, "A ten-strike, be 
jabers!" or the Young American, "Set 'em up!") 



230 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

and the Ilerr Syndicus, caressing his gray whiskers, 
proceeds toward his seat with tragic strides, like 
Forrest in the Gladiator, and orders himself a sand- 
wich and a glass of wine, while his serene countenance 
is lit up with a quiet expression of the most perfect 
complacency. The Herr Inspector follows next, and 
in succession several Herren Senatoren, Assessor, 
Kaufm" inner, &c, who all direct their artillery against 
the forlorn hope at the other end of the alley, creating 
havoc and confusion with every bowVd attack. 

Now it is the turn of my American friend. Surely, 
he will do credit to his great country, and startle 
these good people with the precision of his projectile 
powers. Deliberately he turns up the cuff of his 
right coat-sleeve, dips the points of his fingers into 
the basin of water, takes up the largest ball, and re- 
volves it on the palm of his upraised hand-like the 
man in the circus, glances knowingly along the orbit 
over which the balanced globe is to make its speedy 
revolutions, makes a pendulum of his right arm, and 
then — one ! two ! three ! lets fly the deadly missile, 
and produces a — " pumpe." N". B. — When the ball 
rolls side way off the alley, it is called a pumpe. 
When any of the above-named veterans makes one 
of these, it is always " das verdammte Malheur; " but 
my American friend turned the matter off with a 
joke, saying: " Am Brunnen ist's ja ganz nat'drlich 
dass man Pumpen macht." 

The Brunnen itself is a cold spring of water, whose 
healing qualities are extolled far and wide. There is 
a bathing establishment, where the Herr Stabsarzt 
sets the example of taking fifty sulphur baths every 



THE B R UNNEN— WA L TZING. 231 

summer. Close by the running fountain that throws 
a perpendicular jet of water about twenty feet high, 
is the Tanz Halle, where the young people move in 
the airy circle of the delirious waltz. The cotillon is 
entirely ignored ; but during a whole afternoon and 
evening these male and female corpora may be seen 
revolving on their axes, and around each other, and 
in the prescribed orbit, with astronomical precision. 
They revolve in an atmosphere of their own, that 
sweeps along like a hot simoon, bathing its whole 
universe in scalding vapor. Oh I but it takes the Ger- 
mans to waltz ! How instinctively their feet preserve 
the magic of the harmonious three-quarter time ! 
One, two, three ; one, two, three, and they " swing 
around the circle." Behold the prim young soldier 
in sky-blue uniform, his arm encircling the waist of 
his beauteous vivandiere, while his own waist is 
nearly cut in twain by the tightly drawn zone of 
polished leather. Thus conjoined, for a while they 
march along, keeping step to the music, gracefulness 
in every movement, flexibility and elasticity in every 
pace ; happiness sits triumphantly enthroned upon 
their foreheads. Suddenly they are seized as by a 
spasm ; they sway tunefully backward and forward 
several times, then away they plunge into the rotary 
vortex, and whirl along, like two corks in a gutter 
after a heavy shower. The gauzy lawn that at first 
floated airily over those sylph-like shoulders, now 
clings to them with glutinous perspiration, and gives 
an unromantic prominence to the clavicular arches ; 
the fair complexion that but now eclipsed the lily and 
the lilac has become bronzed and turgid with deoxy- 



232 ACROSS THE ATLAXTIC. 

dized blood ; the Minervan head that recently pre- 
served such an arch and buoyant equilibrium on its 
own, now droops wearily on the shoulder of the gal- 
lant swain. How languishing and love-sick — how 
spiritless and sentimental — how completely collapsed 
they appear — but oh, how gloriously they waltz! 
Such is lite at the Brunnen ; such it is also at the 
BergmiiHe, on the other side of the beautiful Ehume. 
But we will follow it once more in the every-day 
routine which it exhibits among these people. 

It is four o'clock in the morning, when you are 
suddenly awakened by a trumpet-blast that makes 
you quiver in every nerve ; you are paralyzed with 
the apprehensions of a Millerite. Visions of which 
Rubens might have felt proud when he painted the 
resurrection of the dead, flit before your dreamy soul ; 
you start out of bed — a fit figure for such a pic- 
ture — and rush for the window, expecting fearfully 
to behold the dread messenger himself, trumpet and 
all ; when lo ! it is only the cowherd, who blows his 
groat trombonic horn, that people who have cows 
may rise, let them out of their stables, and place 
them under his pastoral charge. A little abashed at 
your cowardly misgivings, you return quietly to bed 
again ; and just when you have attained once more 
that condition of delicious somnolence which is a 
kind of compromise — a Mason and Dixon's line be- 
tween sleep and wakefulness — you are again recalled 
to a state of painful sensibility, not unmixed with a 
sprinkling of ire and a word or two of no prayerful 
etymology, "by a quartette of buglers who march 
lazily down the street, tooting all the while the 



GERMAN TOWNS— THEIR SPECIALITIES. 233 

"stable call," for the dragoons to get up and "curry 
their horses, and give them some water and fodder 
and hay ; or if they won't do it, the Colonel will 
know it, and then there will be the old Harry to 
pay." In explanation of this it should be said, that 
many of the soldiers are permitted to have their 
night-quarters among the families of the town, and 
are not confined to the barracks, consequently it is 
necessary to sound the reveille through every street, 
that no ear may escape its blasted invitation. The 
sun has already risen some twenty degrees in the 
celestial vault ; you also have had your rising pro- 
cess graded by the two disturbances above narrated ; 
you now go through the third degree, and rise for good. 
After this, the first thing to be done is to send for 
the barber. In two minutes he appears all breathless 
before you, bids you good morning, spreads out his 
shaving materials, lathers your face, gallops his razor 
fearfully over the turnpikes of your chin and cheeks, 
and before he has fully recovered his breath, he is 
through with the operation, and ready to trot off to 
the house of his next customer. In the regular order 
of things coffee now makes its appearance, but with 
no other edible accompaniment than a small roll. 
This dispatched, the avocations of the day are com- 
menced and continued until nine o'clock, when a 
more substantial breakfast is indulged in. On this 
occasion, among other things, may always be found 
a dish of the nutrimental specialty of the town you 
happen to be in, and for which said town is noted 
all over Europe. Thus you have goose-liver pates 
at Strasburg ; world-famed sausages at Bologna ; 



234 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Leckerle ginger-bread at Basel ; Gottinger metwurst ; 
Kortheimer knapwurst ; Brounschweiger schinken, 
&c. ad infinitum.. The nomenclature of cheese is 
without limit. It hails from every direction, retains 
its local name, and no two kinds are supposed to be 
exactly alike. It may be had from the consistency 
of thick cream, through the unctuous Mainzer hand- 
cheese and the loud Limburger, that sends such sa- 
vory messages over the olfactory telegraphic nerves, 
to the firm and yellow Schweitzer, though interspersed 
with numerous oleaginous cells. 

Strange to say, people spin and speculate, barter 
and sell, labor and toil and suffer, to get their daily 
bread here, even like at other places — the artisan at 
his shop ; the tiller of soil in his field ; the merchant 
among his traffic ; and the usurer over his pelf. In 
the market-place, too, the contestants for bread and 
butter present a motley gathering — the farmer in a 
blue frock and tight knee-breeches, with pipe in his 
mouth, and pliant pole, wherewith to goad his oxen, 
in his hand ; the market woman squatting upon a 
low seat, with her basket of produce before her, 
gazing wistfully for customers, and now and then 
adjusting the flapping wings of the enormous head- 
dress that sits upon her vertex like an ominous bat. 
The fair embroideress for a moment quits her Berlin 
work to buy here her scanty meal ; and the ruddy 
housewife trips merrily along from stall to stall, until 
her basket is well stored with provisions for her flock. 
Officials flit about with hurried pace, whilst boys 
and girls enliven the scene with sportive play, and 
speak German with remarkable fluency for such 



AN EVENING STROLL. 235 

young people as they are. Dinner and coffee at three, 
and supper past, the evening is spent in various ways. 

You see the bright lights twinkling through the 
darkness away over at the Eergmiihle, and in the 
surrounding stillness of the night you hear the 
music and shuffling of waltzing feet, songs and rev- 
elry and the clink of glasses, and they all constitute 
that untranslatable state of things which the Ger- 
mans calls Gemilthlichkeit. 

It is moonlight, and like a true philosopher, you 
take an evening stroll, with a zealous thirst for ob- 
servation. Lovely maidens there are sitting on the 
door-sills, knitting stockings, by the " bright silver 
light of the moon," with unblushing faces ; or if 
their cheeks are crimsoned, it is because that color 
is always there, or perhaps because some daring 
youth is whispering to the not unwilling ears those 
precious dictations of the heart, which we all call 
sentimentalism in others, but are sure at some time 
in our lives to cherish with the liveliest sense of pro- 
priety. In the back-ground, behind the open door, 
are the parents, settled down into a quiet composure 
after the fatigues and cares of the day, interchanging 
periodical remarks whose chief merit, the young folks 
think, is in their brevity, whilst pater familias labors 
so earnestly at his great, long porcelain pipe, that 
ever and anon the fire in it blazes up, and illuminates 
the situation to the great discomfiture of the lovers. 
Pass we along, and observe those two gentlemen 
leaning far out of the second-story windows of their 
respective houses, on opposite sides of the street, 
holding a neighborly conversation through the even- 



236 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ing air ; long pipes again in full blast, and swinging 
to and fro like pendulums of old-fashioned clocks. 
Their conversation is interrupted by yonder squad of 
juvenile troubadours that is passing along the street, 
pouring out, as it were into every house, a good- 
night blessing with their delightful minstrelsy. 

Let us finally go to the Hotel Sonne, and behold 
once more our friends of the nine-pin alley. Sol- 
emnly these dignitaries are seated around a table. 
Every one has his glass of hot grog — a vulgar con- 
cession, but nevertheless the truth — at which he 
sips leisurely during the whole of the evening. A 
spasmodic conversation on all subjects is the rule. 
Politics are lightly touched upon, but the news of 
the day freely discussed. Anecdotes and jokes and 
mirth prevail. Llitje Fricke is happy ; the Assessor 
loquacious ; Preusse good-hearted and blunt ; and 
the Burgermeister running over with the milk of 
human kindness. Iloch auf, meine Herren ! Es lebe 
Deutschland ! 



LETTER XVI. 

BERLIN. 

GRO WTH OF BERLIN.— MILITARY SPIRIT OF PR USSIA.—THE 
KING & BISMARCK.— THEIR VISIT TO NAPOLEON— UNTER 
BEN LINDEN.— NATIONAL LIBRARY.— MUSEUMS AND UNI- 
VERSITY.— THE HOUSE OF ALEX. VON HUMBOLDT.— BLU- 
CHERS MONUMENT.— THE ORPHEUM.— ZOOLOGICAL AND 
BOTANICAL GARDENS.— THE RIVER SPREE.— A BEAUTI- 
FUL FOREST. 

Berlin, August, 1867. 

CITY of tlie Prussians, thy star is in the ascendant ! 
From the small hamlet which fishermen founded 
in the thirteenth century on the sandy shores of the 
Spree, (a stream scarcely worthy of the name of river,) 
and which prior to the advent of King Frederick the 
First, still remained a town of very ordinary preten- 
sions, Berlin has at length risen into a great and 
populous metropolis, and is the head and centre of a 
powerful nation. Whilst I am seated in one of the 
quiet cells of this great honeycomb of houses, above 
the noise of the din, the labor, the confusion, and the 
hurrying to and fro of the bees and drones that con- 
stitute its motion and machinery and life, I hear the 
rattle of cannonry which, but for its regular periodi- 
city, might be easily mistaken for distant thunder. 
It is occasioned by the artillerymen, who, six miles 
beyond the city limits, are practising with some new 

(237) 



238 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

invention, more terrible and destructive and death- 
dealing than any of its predecessors. For while all 
the nations of Europe are busied with the imitative 
labor of reconstructing their musketry to the charac- 
ter of that which last year taught them such a bitter 
lesson, Prussia is quietly occupying herself with some 
still more effective means of thrashing, in a future con- 
flict, any nation less educated and less cringing under 
the yoke of bigotry than herself. The military spirit 
of Prussia is something entirely unequalled in the 
annals of nations. From the highest prince of the 
realm to the lowliest peasant's son, every one that 
does not suffer from sickness or malformation must 
devote a portion of his life to the service of his 
country in the army. Here is no paying of forfeit 
money ; no buying of substitutes ; no favors from 
the medical examiner, (this is just put in by way of 
rounding oft' the sentence,) no getting out of the 
scrape on any pretext whatsoever ; but every man, 
when he attains that " stage of life " which Shakes- 
peare and the Prussian laws dedicate to the soldier, 
must shoulder arms and march ; though he be never 
so " full of round oaths" when he looks " into the grim 
cannon's jaws." 

Although the nation has for its King a respectable- 
looking elderly gentleman, who has probably quite 
as good a head as heads run in the general crop of 
the human family, (I beg the human family's pardon ; 
I mean of royal heads,) yet the King's king is Bis- 
marck, who is, besides, the genius of the nation, and 
the ruling politician of Europe, and who does not 
practice Talleyrand's theory of "using words to con- 



PRUSSIA-ITS MILITARY LAWS. 239 

ceal his thoughts." Doubtless the shrewd Italian 
minister, Cavour, was of great service to him as an 
illustrious example, and he was not too mole-eyed or 
thick-headed to profit by the lesson which that 
genius conferred upon Europe. 

Bismarck, by virtue of his high position and great 
popularity, has become haughty, if not altogether 
overbearing ; yet there are times when he can unbend, 
and acquit himself with great geniality and good- 
nature ; and he never fails to respond in this spirit 
to the approaches of his boon companions in early 
life. He was at that period, during several years, a 
student at the university of Gottingen, and I am 
told that when, last year, Hanover came under his 
conquering King's jurisdiction, and he had occasion 
to visit the seat of his youthful educational career, 
he was moved with a very kindly leniency toward 
the people of that classic city, and disposed to pro- 
mote their comfort to the utmost extent within his 
power. At Northeim, too, situated but a short dis- 
tance from Gottingen, where many of his frolicsome 
student-tricks were perpetrated, he is yet held in 
lively recollection by the old citizens. The principal 
hotel there is still kept by the same individual that 
presided over it in Bismarck's time ; and when last year 
he saw this landlord, who had, meanwhile, become 
monstrously corpulent, he walked up to him, took 
him familiarly by the hand, and exclaimed, " Was 
Thausand ! Ei das hist du ja, du alter Sonne. Potz 
DonJiericetter, wie hist du so dicke geworden! " 

Bismarck scarcely ever leaves the society of the 
King, least of all on important occasions. After the 



240 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Luxemburg question was settled, and there was a 
reaction of sufficient royal friendship (a peculiar spe- 
cies of the article) to enable the King to visit Paris 
and be the guest of Napoleon, like all the other kings 
and princes, he was very careful to accompany his 
sovereign. When, afterward, at parting, Napoleon 
condescended to shake hands with the wary minister 
— which astonished all the editors of France — it was 
the recognition of an intellectual presence not inferior 
to his own. 

For some time past, the King has been at Ems, and 
has recently gone to Wiesbaden, where the Count 
joined him, ostensibly for the purpose of conferring 
with him on matters of domestic import, but in all 
probability for the purpose of keeping him under his 
overshadowing observation, and from the commission 
of any social or political indiscretion ; for he advo- 
cates the total abolishment of all these gambling con- 
cerns ; whereas the King heretofore generally encour- 
aged them, and has been known, on occasions when 
the " Kouge-et-Noir " banks at "Wiesbaden and Honi- 
burg were " swamped," to replenish their treasury 
from his own purse. And he has had his way thus 
far in all other things, Bismarck will have it also in 
this, and the days of public gaming upon Prussian 
territory are already numbered. 

The bright side of Berlin is undoubtedly on the 
street called " Unter den Linden," that runs from the 
Brandenburger gate to the royal castle. One may 
not easily find elsewhere, on an equal area of ground, 
so many and such magnificent buildings as here. 
Commencing at the grand castle, second only to the 



UNTER DEN LINDEN. 241 

Tuileries at Paris, we cross over the bridge that is 
adorned on both sides with eight groups of marble 
figures, more than life-size, representing tableaux in 
warfare ; Victoria teaching the youth in heroic lore ; 
Minerva instructing the young warrior in the use of 
arms ; Victoria crowning the warrior ; Victoria rais- 
ing the wounded hero; Pallas challenging him to 
renewed conflict ; Pallas sheltering and protecting 
him in battle ; Iris leading the wounded victor to 
Olympus. Such are these groups, that stand out like 
great white cardinal letters in the war-alphabet of 
the rising generation of Prussia. 

We next pass the two splendid museums, and, in 
succession, the arsenal, the royal guard-house, the 
university, the Acadamie on the one side, and on the 
other side the palace of the Crown Prince, the opera- 
house, the Hedwig's-church, the library, and the 
King's residence, that may all be seen from one point 
of observation ; whilst the gendarme-market, two 
large churches with magnificent cupolas, the capa- 
cious theatre, and an array of fine residences are in 
the immediate vicinity. The focus to which the rays 
of Berlin life converge, is Unter den Linden, in the 
neighborhood of the opera-house. Here the people 
walk about in their finest embellishments, or trundle 
along in their superbest equipages, while the shop- 
windows offer their temptations to the passers-by, 
even as on Centre Street, in Pottsville, or the Boule- 
vards, in Paris. 

The library is one of the characteristic institutions 
of this nation. It contains nearly seven hundred 
thousand volumes, on all subjects of science, art, his- 

16 



242 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

tory, and literature, and is accessible to all free of 
charge. The large reading-room is open from nine 
o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon ; or 
the readers may take books to their own homes by 
paying a nominal sum of about twenty cents a year. 
Here, too, are many relics of curious interest to the 
visitors, among which is one of the first seven Latin 
Bibles printed by Gutenberg, in 1450 ; some of Lu- 
ther's translations in manuscript, and the Hebrew 
Bible which he used in this work ; manuscript writ- 
ings of Yirgil, and other ancient poets ; and of 
Gcethe, (whose entire Faust is here in manuscript,) 
Schiller, Humboldt, and many other modern classics. 
Many specimens of the Koran are also exhibited, and 
some beautiful printing in Chinese on silk ; also very 
ancient writing in Greek, more than two thousand 
years old, on parchment, leather, palm-leaves, papy- 
rus, bark, and stones. Here, also, as a scientific relic, 
are preserved the two bronze hemispheres upon which 
Otto von Guerike made some of his first experiments 
with an exhausting air-pump ; and who, when accused 
of being leagued with the Evil One, demonstrated to 
his sovereign his discovery by adjusting the well-fit- 
ting edges of these hemispheres in cohesive union, 
then, having exhausted the air from the interior of 
the hollow globe, hitched eight mules to each hemis- 
phere ; but they could not be pulled asunder ; and 
thus it was that he disproved his collusion with the 
devil. If every inventor of the present day had to 
acquit himself in a similar manner of this relation- 
ship, what a demand for mules there would be ! 
Remarkable for the many objects of interest they 



THE ROYAL MUSE UM. 243 

enclose are the two museums of this city. They con- 
tain an extensive collection of antiquarian curiosities ; 
several series of mythological frescoes, that fail not 
to refreshen one's interest in the poetic lore of the 
gods and goddesses of old ; galleries of paintings and 
sculpture, both of which contain gems of the highest 
order, among the latter of which, especially, are a 
copy of the Venus di Medicis, and a ITebe, by Ca- 
nova, the two finest creations from stone that I have 
thus far seen, excepting, indeed, loveliest of all, that 
inspiration of art which is in the Roman baths at 
Potsdam, the Hebe and Ganymede, by Hentschel. 
This is a work so chaste in execution, so pure, simple, 
yet noble in design, that it is utterly impossible to 
conceive an adequate idea without seeing it. Yoa 
cannot but gaze upon these figures with ardor, with 
wrapt enthusiasm, and hold your breath for fear you 
might disturb them. You feel as if it were a dese- 
cration of the Divine power to make such things as 
these from out the cold material of marble. 

It is impossible, in the limited space at my com- 
mand, to enumerate anything more in detail of these 
interesting museums, and we must pass on. The 
university, attended by an aggregate number of two 
thousand students of divinity, law, philosophy, and 
medicine, is a temple dedicated to science, that is 
truly worthy of its exalted purpose ; for no edifice of 
man's creation should be more beautiful and imposing 
than that wherein is educated and developed the in- 
tellect of our youth, the divine spark by which only 
we resemble the Creator. An object of interest to 
all admirers of great minds must ever be the house 



244 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

wherein Alexander Yon Humboldt dwelt during the 
latter seventeen years of his life. In universal know- 
ledge, as far as it is permitted our finite understand- 
ings to comprehend things in the heavens, upon the 
earth, and within the earth, Humboldt certainly was 
the most learned man that ever lived. In the Royal 
Library above alluded to, I have seen the entire col- 
lection of works that he has written, on all scientific 
subjects, in Latin, German, and French — for he wrote 
with equal readiness in each of these languages — 
and it is almost incredible that one mind should 
grasp, and one man's lifetime suffice, for the whole 
of that stupendous work. Yet Mature dealt kindly 
with him ; and his physical organization, under the 
h 'altliful iniluence of his peaceful, temperate, and 
philosophical soul, was permitted to preserve its har- 
monious movement unto a ripe old age — when no 
taint of disorganized flesh destroyed him ; but, hav- 
ing finished all his labors, he went to sleep in his 
chair one day, and quietly breathed his last. 

Among the many monumental statues that embel- 
lish Unter den Linden, the most noteworthy is, prob- 
bly, that of the old hero of Waterloo, Bliicher. With 
drawn sabre, and his left foot resting on a cannon, 
he looks like a veteran, every inch of him. The 
Prussians have a peculiar fondness for the memory 
of this chieftain ; and if the truth were known, which 
two names in the history of their country stand up- 
permost in public estimation, it is quite probable that 
"der alte Fritze," (King Frederick II.,) and " der 
alte Bliicher" would carry off the prize. 

Now let us ambulate leisurely to the other side of 



ORPHEUM— ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN. 245 

Berlin, and in the Old Jacob's Street we will enter an 
establishment that is honored with the titulary dis- 
tinction of Orpheum. This is a large garden, cov- 
ered and almost enclosed with glass. Within it are 
alcoves and fountains, palm-trees, bananas, and other 
tropical plants. Scattered about among the foliage, 
in artistic effectiveness, and pendant in wreaths of all 
manner of devices, are some four thousand gas-jets, 
enclosed by glass globes of different colors, whilst 
from a balcony a band of the ablest musicians capti- 
vate the senses with strains of delicious sweetness. 
Alas ! this is a nursery for exotics in more senses 
than one ; for here the merryblades and the camelias 
mingle in the bewildering dance denominated " can- 
can," in which the display of gaudy dresses, pretty 
feet and ankles, and great bushy, tow-colored ringlets 
is quite electrifying, and apparently galvanized some 
of the old weather-beaten hearts that I saw there 
into a momentary spasm of new life again. 

Pass we now outside of the city, and follow the 
serpentine course of the river Spree, as it skirts the 
northern boundary of the Thiergarten-wald, and flows 
lazily along, the dear only knows where to. In some 
of its convolutions, however, it has been widened and 
deepened into a species of canal, wherein it is abso- 
lutely possible to ride very short distances on light 
canoes. Into one of these my American friend seated 
himself the other day, avowing, with frantic looks, 
that he " must have a little frolic in one of those dol- 
phins," and this was the first and only spree he was 
on since he left "Columbia's happy shore." Turning 
to the left we enter the Zoological Garden, which is a 



246 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

very Noah's ark for the completeness of its selections 
from animated nature. An elephant nourishes here 
who seems the solemnest patriarch of his kind, and 
answers with a distinct neigh whenever his keeper 
asks him a question. Two grizzly hears dwell here 
that would make Seth Kinman's heart jump in very 
ecstasy, and his fingers itch to exercise the trigger of 
that famous rifle of his. In other respects the me- 
nagerie is very similar to that of Paris. 

We now bisect the whole of the woods called the 
Thiergarten, and take a look through the Botanical 
Garden, which is one of the most extensive of its 
kind in Europe, having no less than eighteen large 
hot-houses, in which, and in the open gardens, some 
sixteen thousand kinds of plants are cultivated. 
Finally, let us return into the innermost depth of 
the woods, to the " Great Star," a place from which 
numerous roads diverge in various directions. We 
take that which extends to the Brandenburger gate 
of the city, and walk quietly toward it. 

It is a beautiful forest, tlfough only about a mile 
square, composed of oak, beech, ash, birch, and linden 
trees, very thickly planted, but without a particle of 
underbrush, and upon ground as level as a prairie. 
It is just the place where you would expect to meet 
a posse of wood-nymphs at almost every turn, and 
where, without in the least startling your nerves, 
King Oberon, with the little silver horn around his 
neck, and the silver wand in his hand, might descend 
through the foliage in his golden chariot, drawn by 
doves and butterflies, stretch out his wand and create 
a castle of pearls, emeralds, and rubies for you, then 



THE THIERGARTEK. 247 

disappear. The darkness of night has come over the 
place ; but it is intersected with numerous excellent 
roads, on every one of which is a double row of lamps 
with burning gas-jets, which sparkle through the 
green vestiture of trees, appear and disappear as you 
pass along, that it seems indeed like an enchanted 
region wherein you wander. 

0, lovely forest ! if your leaves were all eyes and 
ears and tongues, what stories you could tell, of timid 
confessions that are whispered in your hearing ; of 
raptures that thrill the children of men under your 
ambrosial shadow ! What a code of ethics you could 
weave from the woof and web of thoughts that escape 
into your trackless waste ! Let the students of books 
enter the libraries of men, nutter among their leaves, 
and read ; but let me, bower of Nature, seek refuge 
in your shady retreats and THINK ! Let me, pant- 
ing, draw new life and inspiration from the oxygen 
of your expiring foliage ! 



LETTER XVII. 



MY AMERICAN FRIEND TAKES A RAMBLE THROUGH THE 
STREETS OF BERLIN— GAZES IN THE SHOP- WINDOWS 
AND SEES SOMETHING. — FINDS OUT AN ADDRESS AND 
GOES IN PURSUIT OF IT.— WHAT HAPPENS THERE.— AN 
A CCIDENT. — D OES A LITTLE D CTORING. — MA KES THE 
ACQUAINTANCE OF A PRUSSIAN SOLDIER.— SOME MILL 
TAR Y TALK.— DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF LANGEN- 
SALZA. 

Berlin, August, 1867. 

THE other day my feelings were greatly exercised, 
not to say harrowed, by the conduct of my 
American friend. Having ascertained that I should 
be employed the greater part of the forenoon in writ- 
ing, he determined to take a stroll, and speculate on 
the current of human events that would present 
themselves to his philosophic view on the streets and 
by-ways of Berlin. 

Now, we had always been as inseparable as mind 
and body of the same individual ; and how he could 
have the hardihood to venture on such an under- 
taking must be forever a mystery to all who under- 
stood the bonds of unity between us. Indeed, it is 
unintelligible to myself even now ; and were I called 
upon to solemnly affirm or swear, that I in the body, 
remained at home, occupied with the aforesaid writ- 
ing, whilst he in the body wandered forth, I should 
stand upon a demurrer at all hazards, as being in 
some doubt of my own identity. One thing, how- 

(248) 



L OKING IN AT SHOP- WIND WS. 249 

ever, is incontrovertible, namely, that he did sally 
out; and whether I followed him in the flesh, or 
simply in the spirit, can be of no earthly consequence 
to the reader, who is only asked to accept this record 
of M. A. F. 's experience on that day in good faith 
of the latter's individual responsibility. 

He had just turned a corner from ITnter den Lin- 
den, and was proceeding leisurely down Friederich's 
Street, which is lined on both sides by a dazzling 
galaxy of shop-windows. 

When we see a person, in whatever city we may 
reside, loitering along the streets, and looking curi- 
ously into the shop- windows, it is human nature to 
set that down as an evidence of social greenness, and 
to our minds the idea is inseparable from a tall, lank, 
straight, and yellow-haired individual, clothed in 
long, swallow-tailed coat, too short in the sleeves, 
and in nether garments too short in the extremities. 
Yet, reader, to be candid now, have you never caught 
yourself in other cities bigger than your own — or 
perhaps not even that — doing this same thing that 
you deprecate as countrified in others ? The truth 
is, there is much wisdom to be gathered from this 
roadside display of tradesmen's goods ; for there is 
evidenced therein not only the productiveness of a 
people, but their skill, taste, ingenuity, and enter- 
prise ; and in these are the essential elements of what- 
ever degree of prosperity they enjoy. 

My American friend, then, without any disparage- 
ment of his fine sense of 'cuteness be it said, was 
gazing into the shop-windows of Friederich's Street, 
and admiring the manifold objects therein exhibited, 



250 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

and intended to respond to the wants and vanities 
of never-satisfied mankind. Tlie particular produc- 
tions that attracted his special attention, were some 
beautiful samplers of embroidery in zephyr work, 
displayed in the window of one by the name of Levi, 
and among these he espied a pattern, though not 
worked out, which quite suited his fancy. The fig- 
ure it represented was a copy of Correggio's Eepent- 
ant Magdalene, of which he determined to purchase, 
if possible, a finished piece. . Accordingly he entered 
the store, and made known his request ; but was told 
that they had no completed sampler of that kind on 
hand, and that there was but one lady in their em- 
ployment who could do any degree of justice to that 
figure on canvas, not with pallet and brush, but 
with needle and zephyr. "Would they be kind 
enough to give him the address of that lady ? " 
"Certainly, mein Herr, with great Vergnitijen." 

The needle-work artisans of Berlin are noted 
throughout the world for this kind of manufacture ; 
and in Berlin, those who work for the house of Levi 
are distinguished for the peculiar excellence and 
finish of their samplers. He was therefore anxious 
to procure a fine specimen of this beautiful work- 
manship, by, if possible, the most accomplished hands 
of Berlin. To this end he purchased the pattern be- 
fore named, and proceeded forthwith to carry it to 
the lady whose address he had obtained. 

She lived on the second floor of a plain, unassum- 
ing, but comfortable and sufficiently spacious resi- 
dence in Charlotten Street. The chambers in ques- 
tion were pointed out to him by the housemaid, who 



A SEWING-MACHINE— AN ACCIDENT. 251 

also acted as portress ; and on tapping lightly at the 
door, he was told by a sweet voice from within, to 
come "herein/' 

Entering the apartment, he found it occupied by 
three individuals. One of these was a very pretty 
maiden, blonde and blue-eyed, with joyful smiles 
dancing playfully about her pleasant countenance, 
like the first fitful rays of the rising sun upon the 
morning dew. Attired in neat and tasteful sim- 
plicity, hers was of that " beauty unadorned " which 
is ever "adorned the most." She was seated upon 
an ottoman, and occupied with a piece of satin em- 
broidery. 

Another lady, who was apparently her sister, and 
some half dozen years her senior, — also very fair to 
look upon, but with something of a more matronly 
comeliness, — was seated at a sewing-machine, which 
M. A. F. soon discovered to be one of American 
manufacture. 

. The third personage was a bright, curly-haired 
child — a little boy some four or five years old, who 
shrank up close to his mamma, the elder lady, with 
a half-frightened expression on his face, evidently 
occasioned by the presence of a stranger. The lat- 
ter, whose knowledge of German was limited, needed 
all his address to go through the form of his self- 
introduction ; but he had acquitted himself right cle- 
verly, and was about stating the object of his visit, 
when the elder lady, upon rising to receive him, by 
some inadvertent movement gave the large fly-wheel 
of her sewing-machine a sudden turn ; whereupon the 
child startled them all by the painful utterance of a 



252 AC BOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

piercing scream. His little hand, that had been rest- 
ing in one of the inter-radial spaces of the wheel, 
was, by the quick turn of the latter, violently jammed 
against a fixed portion of the machine, and the alert 
eye of my American friend (who, it will be recol- 
lected, was a doctor) immediately discovered that 
the child's wrist was broken by the accident. Upon 
realizing this fact, the ladies were thrown into great 
consternation, taking the child by turns in their 
arms, and mingling with his frightened and distress- 
ful cries their sobs and lamentations. 

They had become quite oblivious of the presence 
of their visitor, when he recalled their attention to 
himself, by explaining his professional calling, and 
assuring them that with their permission he would 
take the proper steps to remedy the injured arm at 
once, as it was important to replace the fractured 
edges in apposition with as little delay as possible, in 
order to obviate to a great extent the swelling and 
inflammation that must otherwise follow. This per- 
mission being readily granted, he sent the younger 
lady out for some plaster-of-paris, or gypsum, whilst 
he readjusted the displaced parts, and kept them so 
until her return. Then, after slaking the plaster-of- 
paris, he moulded it around the child's wrist and 
forearm, making a cast which upon drying formed a 
firm and solid casing in which a re-displacement was 
impossible. 

After the little fellow had his arm thus fixed and 
placed in a broad silken sling suspended from his 
neck, he still looked dubiously at the white mass 
that confined it, and which seemed like the arm of a 



A PRUSSIAN ORDERLY SERGEANT. 253 

statue that had been knocked off for his amusement 
by some Italian vender ; but he appeared quite com- 
fortable again, and ceased crying at once. 

This unforeseen, though sad occurrence, had the 
effect of setting aside in a measure the feeling of 
strangeness between the ladies and their visitor ; and 
placed them in something of that familiar relation 
which is so soon established between doctors and 
their patients. Directly they were lost in the laby- 
rinth of a friendly conversation, in which he how- 
ever learned, that it was not possible to execute the 
Repentant Magdalene for him in the short time that 
he proposed remaining in Berlin. So he expressed 
himself satisfied with a less elaborate production, 
and on leaving, promised to step in again next day, 
to see how his little patient would be getting on. 

On his visit of the following day, my friend was 
made acquainted with the child's father, who is an 
orderly sergeant in the Prussian army. He was a 
tall and rather fine-looking young man, and met my 
friend with a profusion of thanks for his attentions 
of the previous day. 

" Let me rather express my sincere regrets to you, 
sir, for having been unwittingly the cause of the 
accident to your little boy," said M. A. F. in return. 

"If you was the innocent cause," replied the sol- 
dier, " you have made us forget it by your kindness, 
and the prompt manner in which you have repaired 
the injury." 

" How, then, did my little friend rest throughout 
the night?" asked the self-installed surgeon, while 
his fingers were playing among the curls of his now 
quite reconciled young patient. 



254 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

" Oh comparatively well, sir," responded the 
mother. "I feared that the weight of that cast 
around his arm would embarrass him much more 
than it does. He slept quite sweetly all night." 

^Without going further into the details of this pre- 
liminary conversation, we may simply state, that it 
soon drifted into a military vein 

The sergeant was dressed in a full uniform of blue 
that was well fitting, and appeared new enough to 
have just arrived from the tailor's ; and he wore on his 
left breast, suspended by black and white ribbons, 
(the Prussian colors,) a bright shining medal. 

" I should suppose," said my friend, glancing sig- 
nificantly at the medal, "that you have seen some 
active service ; may I ask where it was ? " 

Apparently pleased at the inquiry, the young ser- 
geant replied, " At Langensalza, sir, in our battle 
with the Hanoverians. I had the honor to con- 
tribute the humble service for which I was rewarded 
with this distinction." 

" Ah," said his wife, her eyes beaming with love 
and pride at the husband whom she evidently con- 
sidered the bravest of the brave ; " but why do you 
not tell the gentleman by what act of gallantry it 
was that you earned it ? " 

" If there are any special circumstances connected 
with the matter," said his visitor, " and you have no 
particular reasons for withholding them, I should be 
pleased and thankful to hear you relate them." 

"It wasn't much, sir; the story is soon told. I 
simply picked up a bombshell, before it exploded, 
and threw it into a stream of water that was running 
near by. That is all," was the modest reply. 



A GALLANT DEED. 255 

" Yes," retorted his wife, " that was all, and there 
was great courage in the act ; but he did not do it 
for a joke eithei\ did you, Carl ? He might have run 
away from the bombshell rather than toward it ; but 
his presence of mind saw a useful purpose, that made 
him forget all about his own safety — all about his 
loving wife and child at home." She was evidently 
quite full of the subject ; and winding her arm around 
his waist, continued, " The shell fell almost under a 
powder-caisson, and if it had exploded there, the de- 
struction would have been terrible." 

" Besides, Carl," added the sister, " don't you know 
that Generals Falkenstein and Manteufel were stand- 
ing close by, in consultation with each other, and if 
they had been killed, we > would certainly have lost 
the battle. So his Majesty may well make you a 
Feldwebel, (orderly sergeant,) and hang a medal upon 
your breast." 

"My brave friend," now exclaimed M. A. F., 
grasping him warmly by the hand, " I am proud of 
your acquaintance ; you ought to have been at our 
own great battle of Gettysburg, so you ought." 

" I have read of that battle, and learned that you 
got along right well without me," good-humoredly 
rejoined the sergeant. 

" Will you not give me some further account of 
the conflict at Langensalza ? " asked my friend ; " I 
have heard that the Hanoverians fought bravely 
there, with their blind king in their midst." 

" Like tigers, sir," was the reply ; "oh ! we had a 
foe worthy of our steel, I can assure you. I saw with 
my own eyes how they broke up one of our Prussian 



256 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

infantry squares. A cavalry lieutenant, whose name 
I have since learned was Von Einen, rode up against 
the solid phalanx, then spurred his horse until he 
reared over the bristling bayonets, and bounded al- 
most into the centre of the square, scattering it to 
the right and left. It is true, that horse and rider 
went headlong into death, but the sight of it was 
horribly sublime." 

Having now fully worked himself into the spirit 
of his subject, the sergeant went on with it, his face 
glowing with enthusiasm. 

" Oh, sir, you should have seen what a glorious 
and gallant fight it was ! I do not say it from ego- 
tism, or because I was there myself; for my praise of 
the Hanoverians is as great as of the Prussians ; I love 
them as warmly for their daring heroism as I do my 
own comrades in arms. Their cavalry is unsurpassed 
all the world over. The battle raged over undulating 
ground, the centre of which was traversed by a 
stream that is generally small and shallow, but was 
now swollen by the June freshets to a depth in some 
places that horses were obliged to swim in crossing 
it. Our infantry swooped down like birds of prey 
upon the enemy, from the rising ground to the right 
and left of the town of Langensalza ; that of the 
enemy rushed like infuriated fiends down the slopes 
of the greater hills on the opposite side of the creek. 
Both forces met and fought by long lines in and across 
the water. Our artillery was chiefly planted on a 
conical knoll of ground, called Judenhiigel (Jews' 
Hill), theirs on the opposite eminence ; and the two 
blazed at each other over and through and aside of 



THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA. 257 

the Badewaidchen (Bathing-grove), and were doing a 
terrific carnage also among the regiments of cavalry 
and infantry that were engaged all over the two de- 
scending slopes. At Kallenberg's Mill, a little back 
from the foot of the hill, it was where I performed 
that little action of which my wife is so proud, now 
that it is over, but which she would not have thanked 
me for when it occurred. The place was considered 
at the time comparatively safe ; Generals Falkenstein 
and Manteufel were anxiously conversing, apparently 
heedless of what occurred around them. I, who was 
then but a private soldier, was about to assist a com- 
rade to carry ammunition to our company from the 
caisson before named. The shell fell, burrowed a 
deep hole, and ploughed along the ground a distance 
of about fifty yards, when it ceased rolling, and lay 
motionless a few feet from where my comrade and 
myself were standing ; but the little spiral column of 
smoke was still curling upward from its fuse as it 
lay there. I instantly sprang forward, seized the ter- 
rible missile, raised it with difficulty above my head, 
and hurled it as far into the mill-stream as I could. 
General Falkenstein, who was about seventy years 
of age, saw the act, and had me brought before him. 
' I will say to you what Marshall Blucher said to me 
at Waterloo : u Du hist ein braver Junge ; " — come to 
me when the battle is over, and I will make you a 
Feldwebel.' Those were the words the General spoke 
to me ; you can imagine how proud I have ever felt 
of them. 

" It was then that the Hanoverian hordes swarmed 
forward in fearful carnage against our ranks — then 

17 



258 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

that the struggle in and across the water was the 
deadliest, and the fire the hottest. There was a 
bridge spanning the river, that was contested like 
another bridge of Lodi. Wounded horses were plung- 
ing about madly in the water, and the dead and 
dying soldiers floating down upon it by scores. In- 
deed, you must allow me to repeat, sir, that it was a 
glorious battle — that battle of Langensalza." 

" Eventually the Hanoverians capitulated, did they 
not?" asked my friend. 

" Yes, sir, on the first day, the 27th of June, they 
fought us steadily, hopeful of success — and against 
great odds too — odds of greater numbers, and our 
superior needle-guns ; but the next day fresh rein- 
forcements came to our aid, and the enemy was over- 
whelmed from all sides ; escape was hopeless, and he 
surrendered at discretion." 

" Did the King of Hanover continue in the field to 
the end?" 

" Yes, the poor, blind, but infatuated King com- 
manded to the end. Riding along between the Crown 
Prince and a general officer, these gentlemen led him 
by reins fastened to the bridle-bit of his horse. He 
was bitterly opposed to the surrender, and entreated 
his officers to continue the struggle until he at least 
should be killed ; but they in turn opposed this, and 
justly so, as utterly at variance, not only with hu- 
manity, but the laws of civilized warfare. So he 
was obliged to succumb, though he lamented greatly 
at the downfall of what he was pleased to call his 
'beloved G-uelphen HausJ" 



LETTER XVIII. 

TRAVELLING. — THE WIND-MILLS. 

CITY OF LEIPZIG.— HAHNEMANN'S MONUMENT— GCETHE'S 
FAUST, AND AUERBAGHS CELLAR.— THE BOOK-TRADE, 
AND UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG. — DRESDEN. — TREASURES 
AND WORKS OF ART.— THE GREEN VAULTS.— KAUFMAN'S 
ACOUSTIC CABINET.— THE SCHUTZENFEST OF THE VOGEL- 
W1ESE.—A TRIP UP THE ELBE TO KONIGSTEIN.-VISIT TO 
THE BATTLE-FIELD OF SADO WA. 

Vienna, August, 1867. 

MY American friend has been suddenly seized with 
a passion for wind-mills, of which he counted 
no less than seventy-eight on our way from Berlin to 
Leipzig. He says: "Behold their wild, weird, and 
threatening appearance ! How beautifully they re- 
lieve the monotony of these sandy and fenceless fields ! 
Is it a wonder that the valiant Don Quixote was 
tempted to break his knightly lance on one of them ? 
And yet they throw their great, long arms around 
in such an agonizing manner, as if their internal 
grinding caused them excruciating pain. Oh, why 
can we not keep apace with Europe, and have wind- 
mills too ? " 

The city of Leipzig was made memorable by the 
great battle which Napoleon fought there against 
twice his number of the allied forces, in the year 
1813, and which precipitated in one great lurch the 
downward tendency of that destiny whose child he 
had so oft and fondly proclaimed himself to be. 

(259) 



260 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Standing by the stone which marks the place he 
occupied during the whole time of that great strug- 
gle, and gazing over the vast plains in every direc- 
tion, now pregnant with vegetation that bends under 
the yellow burden of its ripening nouriture, I could 
not help wondering what were the thoughts and 
emotions of that one man, on whom alone rested the 
whole responsibility of a half million human beings 
killing and butchering each other, whilst he was 
quietly gazing on, and directing the manner of the 
frightful carnage. Now, over the whole ground 
where the defiant walls and bastions of Leipzig 
once stood, are a series of flower-beds, arbors of over- 
hanging vines and trees intersected with walks, 
forming an agreeable promenade that entirely encir- 
cles the city. 

Occasional places of this promenade are embel- 
lished with monumental statues, among which I was 
gratified to find one of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the 
founder of Homoeopathy. It is truly a noble piece of 
art, and exhibits the learned Doctor in a sitting pos- 
ture, an open book in his left hand, a pen in the 
right, and on his naturally fine and open countenance 
is depicted a well-drawn expression of thoughtful 
meditation. The statue is in the centre of a flower- 
bed of roses, geraniums, daflbdils, and honey-suckles, 
the latter creeping along an iron railing which sur- 
rounds the monument. Whatever may be said by 
the opponents of Homoeopathy against Hahnemann's 
theory, one thing is certain, that its application on 
himself haft a very salubrious effect ; for the good 
man lived to the respectable age of nearly ninety 



AUERBACH'S CELLAR. 261 

years — something that doctors can rarely be ac- 
cused of. 

The reader who is familiar with Goethe's "Faust" 
will recollect that some of its scenes were transacted 
in Auerbach's cellar in Leipzig, and of course, to 
leave the city without bestowing a hasty visit on 
this famous place, was not to be thought of. This 
dingy old cellar, with a dank, subterranean smell, 
with arched ceiling and massive walls, covered in- 
teriorly with faded frescos, illustrating the friendly 
intercourse between Doctor Faustus and the devil, 
really enjoys the air of a place .vhere one might have 
a civil little conversation with his Satanic ^Majesty 
right cosily. An old German book, containing the 
original legend of Doctor Faustus, is chained to the 
wall, and said to be the one which Goethe used in 
the elaboration of his great drama. Another old 
book, containing the " chronicles of Leipzig," really 
has a paragraph in it stating, that on a certain occa- 
sion, "Doctor Faustus, by the aid and assistance of 
the Evil One, did wickedly ride out of Auerbach's 
cellar, a-straddle of a barrel of wine." Even the old 
barrel— mirabile dictu ! — upon which this feat was 
performed, is still here in an astonishingly well-pre- 
served condition! Goodness! what things a body 
sees when one travels ! 

The book-trade of Leipzig is the largest on the 
Continent, and the city is, beside this, noted for its 
general commercial character. On three different 
occasions of the year there is a market called the 
"Messe," when the influx of strangers from all parts 
of Europe, and even from America, is so great some- 



262 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

times as to double the aggregate population ; and 
the amount of business transacted during these pe- 
riods is enormous. The University is one of the 
best in Europe, and generally attended by upward 
of fifteen hundred students, among whom there are 
always quite a number from the United States. 

We now come to Dresden, of which lovely city 
my reminiscences are too agreeable ever to be for 
gotten. It has been called by a distinguished poet 
the Florence of Germany, and whatever Florence 
may be I have not yet realized, but certain it is that 
Dresden contains tht elements to satisfy the pro- 
foundest philosopher, as well as the most fastidious 
idealist, and yields enjoyment of the most diversi- 
fied description to all. 

The chief attraction of this city, as evidenced by 
the daily crowds of visitors, is doubtless the " Green 
Vaults," wherein are stored treasures and works of 
art from precious materials of incalculable wealth. 
Figures and groups carved from ivory and mother-of- 
pearl ; vases and statuettes and all manner of things 
from gold and silver ; necklaces and tiaras, swords 
and royal badges, and insignias of all kinds, that 
dazzle the eye with their profusion of large and re- 
splendent diamonds and rubies. Among these is the 
diamond necklace belonging to Queen Amelia, (of 
Saxony,) which is said to be unequalled by that of 
any other queen or empress in Europe ; a stone of 
onyx valued at 48,000 thalers ; and a work made by 
Dinglinger, which represents the throne and court 
of the Great Mogul of Delhi. The open and richly 
furnished pavilion is at the end of a garden ; the 



ART GALLERIES. 263 

whole is of solid silver, and about two yards square 
The Mogul himself is seated on a golden throne, and 
in the pavilion, and scattered about the garden, are 
a hundred and thirty-two figures of solid gold, 
being men with camels loaded with the tribute ex- 
acted by their sovereign. After examining, during 
an hoar, the curiosities and brilliants displayed in 
these chambers, one's eyes feel quite relieved to escape 
again to their habitual observation of common ob- 
jects. 

The Art Gallery at Dresden contains many of the 
most highly treasured productions of the old mas- 
ters, chiefest of which is Raphael's Madonna di St. 
Sisto, brought here at a cost of sixty thousand tha- 
lers 1 It is honored with a room by itself, in which 
hundreds of people may be seen daily, with " eyes in 
fine frenzy rolling," gazing upon this picture as if 
it was their daily bread, and they had to live upon 
the sight of it. Some of the other paintings of 
greatest note are the Repentant Magdalene, by Cor- 
regio ; another similar subject, by Battoni ; the St. 
Cicilie, by Carlo Dolce ; the Children of Charles the 
First, by Van Dyck ; a Venus and Cupid, by Guido 
Reni ; and another by Titian ; and, of course, the 
usual number by Rubens, whose horrible naturalness 
in delineating flesh and blood I am quite tired of. 

A place of great interest in this city is Kaufman's 
Acoustic Cabinet of self-playing musical instruments, 
of which there are a great variety, from that of a 
little artificial bird, no larger than a humming-bird, 
that jumps out of a small box, flutters about and 
whistles — to a great military orchestrion, which, 



264 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

when wound up and set in motion, performs most 
delightfully, like the full orchestra of an opera, trum- 
pets, cornets, flutes, clarionets, cymbals, drums, and 
everything else included. One instrument is there, 
composed of about twenty bugles, constituting a full 
corps, that would be an elegant acquisition to a 
cavalry regiment, and might be hauled along on a 
wagon at dress-parade, in full blast, to the equal de- 
light Of both men and horses. There were also some 
instruments whose sounds can scarcely be distin- 
guished from that of the finest pianos. Altogether, 
I don't know but what these queer machines afforded 
me the most perfect concert I ever attended ; for I 
heard here my favorite Miserere from Trovatore, 
played to perfection, as well as a number of gems 
from other operas and a brilliant overture. Some of 
these instruments perform as many as a hundred dif- 
ferent pieces, and can easily be adapted for new ones. 
They may be purchased, but are very costly, some 
of them being valued at prices as high as ten thou- 
sand dollars. 

The time of my arrival at Dresden happened to be 
the week of the so-called Schiitzenfest of the Vogel- 
wiese, or, Anglicized, Target Festival of the Birds- 
meadow. This is a peculiar institution of the Ger- 
mans, and is associated with the wildest kind and 
most abandoned enjoyments. Picture to yourself a 
large, flat field, about twenty acres pquare, and upon 
this fancy at least twenty-five separate and distinct 
companies of " fljung horses," where big and little 
boys and girls can have a circular ride of about five 
minutes' duration, accompanied by the most bewil- 



SCHUTZENFEST. 265 

tiering music, for a penny a ride ; then there are other 
similar concerns, composed of small railroad cars, 
headed by a bogus locomotive, the whole running 
round in a ring, like a lightning express train, scream- 
ing and shrieking with its patent steam-whistle after 
the most approved style. Next in order are at least 
a score and a half of different kinds of shows, under 
canvas tents, the largest of which is the hippodrome, 
where riding on real horses is done. And then fol- 
low successively a number of monkey theatres, where 
the performance is conducted entirely by apes and 
intelligent dogs that walk up ladders, and jump 
through hoops and paper-headed drums ; and ponies, 
that lire off pistols and waltz to the tune of the 
"Camels are Coming" with wonderful ease and cir- 
cumspection. Then comes a show with a large and 
flaming placard, announcing itself as the Great Ame- 
rican Institute of Living and Moving Figures. Won- 
dering what new feature of your country's greatness 
is here exposed to the rude gaze of the plebeian masses, 
you determine to enter and be surprised. Surprised 
you are, indeed, upon finding a lot of stupid-looking 
wax-figures, purporting to represent Napoleons the 
First and Third, Frederick the Great, Bismarck and 
Garibaldi, Queen Victoria, and a whole lot of similar 
Americans, all twisting and nodding their heads and 
rolling their eyes at you, as if in the very death- 
struggle of saying: "Whichever you likes, my dear; 
you pays your money, and you has your choice." 
Other tents contain Fat Women, Circassian Beauties, 
Little Turks, and Big Russians ; and one there is with 
a poor armless creature, who knits stockings with the 



266 ACS OSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

same members that usually wear them. A long row 
of shooting-galleries claim our attention next, where 
a great host of men and boys keep up a sharp, run- 
ning fire with spring-guns at all manner of targets, 
for all manner of prizes, from a row of pins to a gal- 
vanized watch. At one end of the field the principal 
company of the occasion shoot mark at a wooden 
bird, the size of a big rooster, that is perched on the 
top of a pole at least a hundred feet high, and from 
this the festival derives its name. Pass we now by 
yonder long row of booths, where trinkets and toys, 
cakes and all kinds of drinks are sold ; we will arrive 
at others, where house wilish-looking women bestir 
themselves in a lively manner with the frying of 
small, curled-up sausages, and dishing them up with 
a neat dressing of sour-krout, for scores of hungry 
ones who stand and sit around, fork in hand, devour- 
ing these dainty morsels with a relish that laughs at 
dyspepsia as at a wild and visionary dream of the 
doctors. In another part of the field is a pole about 
twenty-five feet high, the top of which is encircled by a 
hoop, to which caps, pocket-handkerchiefs, and small 
blouses are attached ; and any boy who can climb up 
the smoothly polished pole and detach one of these 
prizes, is entitled to keep it ; and many and amusing 
are the efforts of the boys to climb the pole. Kow 
fancy again, kind reader, all these flying-horses, and 
circuses, and shows, in full operation, and scattered 
about the whole field some thirty organ-grinders, all 
playing at the same time different tunes and within 
hearing of each other — the scene animated by a 
crowding, moving, pleasure-seeking, frolicksome, 



AN OVATION. 267 

good-natured pepulace of some five thousand or more 
in number, and you will have a faint idea of the 
Schutzenfest at Dresden. 

Seated in a rather elegant equipage — though it 
was a hired droschke — with a spruce-looking driver, 
we were proceeding one afternoon to this Sehiitzen- 
fest, outside of the city. Another equipage, with a 
span of beautiful black horses was immediately ahead 
of us. The street was lined on both sides with 
crowds of people, who, all along our route, were con- 
tinually taking off their hats and making all manner 
of reverential bows as we passed along. Instantly 
my American friend, who would not be behindhand 
in courtesy with these very polite people, took off his 
hat and proceeded the rest of the way bareheaded, 
inclining his body out of the carriage to the right and 
to the left, kissing his hand to the ladies who were 
waving handkerchiefs from upper story windows 
and balconies, and saluting the masses with a coun- 
tenance beaming with good wishes for their 'welfare. 
It was indeed a grand ovation through which we 
passed, and would have tended, I confess, to disturb 
our halcyon souls with a little vanity, had we not, at 
the end of our journe}^, been apprised of the little 
circumstance that the carriage which had kept close 
before us all the way was occupied by the King of 
Saxony, and that we must have been looked upon as 
favorite individuals of his retinue. We alighted, 
however, and so did the King; but he did not ap- 
proach us with outstretched hands and invite us to 
dine with him, which relieved my friend, in a mea- 
sure, for he felt ill at ease at the idea of cultivating 



268 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the intimacy of kings, as quite unreconcilable with 
his republican principles. Yet the King looked to- 
ward us, too, with something of a quizzical smile, 
and methought some official, with a handsome star 
on his left breast, (he was probably a policeman was 
heard so say : " Gnadige Majestat, sind nur zwei Ame- 
rikaner." 

Soon after, leaving the King of Saxony to shoot, 
with a bow-gun, at the bird in the Vogelwiese, at 
which, it is said, he always takes his turn, we left 
the fair city of Dresden and proceeded in a steamboat 
up the river Elbe, through the beautiful and roman- 
tic highlands, to Kbnigstein. I cannot concede that 
the grand and wild magnificence of this scenery loses 
one particle by comparison with that along the Rhine. 

My next point of rest was Prague, in Bohemia, 
the land of the gypsies. This city, though associated 
in history with many thrilling events, is otherwise 
of no great interest to the traveller. It has many 
large and handsome palaces, and the Hradschin, es- 
pecially, is an object of no common interest. I 
remained a day, which was long enough to see pretty 
much everything of note, and then proceeded, byway 
of Pardubitz, to Koniggratz, whence I journeyed to 
Saduwa and all over the last year's battle-field, where 
the difficulty between Prussia and Austria were so 
speedily and effectually settled. On the battle-field 
there are a number of handsome monuments, erected 
by the Austrians to the memory of their brave dead 
heroes, though I could not help thinking that the 
inscriptions on the tablets denoted a rather active 
exercise of somebody's mythological faculties. Thus, 



BATTLE-FIELD OF KONIG GRATZ. 269 

for instance, the following is on nearly every monu- 
ment: "For the Kaiser and their country they en- 
countered death joyfully," which, considering the 
compulsory recruiting of European armies, appeared 
to me as, after all, a pretty strong piece of chiselling, 
that would not pass for an affidavit under all circum- 
stances. 

The Prussians have bought a lot on which many 
of their dead have been buried. The country all 
over, from KbniggrKtz to Sadowa, is dotted with 
graves, that are indicated by small black crosses. 
Otherwise there is but little evidence of a great bat- 
tle having been fought so recently, the fields being in 
a fine state of cultivation, in which the small spaces 
occupied by graves alone are kept sacred. The posi- 
tion which the Austrians held at Chlum was as fine 
a one for a battle as any that can be conceived, and 
the heroism displayed by the Prussians must have 
been grand indeed. The country all around Konig- 
gratz is exceedingly picturesque and fertile. The city 
is strongly fortified with moat and walls. 



LETTEE XIX. 

THE AUSTRIANS.— THEIR PERSONAL POINTS. — THE IMPE- 
RIAL VAULTS IN THE CHURCH OF THE CAPUCHINS.— 
PAL A CE OF SCHONBR UNN. — UNI VERSIT Y OF VIENNA. — 
THE GENERAL HOSPITAL. — ROKITANSKY, THE PATHOLO- 
GIST.— REV. DR. MANN, OF PHILADELPHIA. 

Vienna, August, 1867. 

I ALLUDED, in my last communication, briefly to 
my visit to the Kbniggratz battle-field, and ex- 
pressed surprise that the Austrians should have been so 
disastrously routed from a position of such strong natu- 
ural advantages as that which Benedek and his forces 
had taken at the commencement of the battle. From 
what I have since observed in the general character 
of the good-natured Austrians, I am entirely con- 
vinced, that it is their manifest destiny, as it with 
rare exceptions ever has been, to lose battles, and not 
to win them. This opinion I have arrived at in no 
spirit of unkindness or prejudice whatever; for I am, 
on the contrary, rather prepossessed in their favor. 
They are such a dear, easy-going, pleasure-seeking, 
and amazingly civil people, that it is greatly to be 
wondered at how they ever have the hardihood to 
fire off a gun at all ; and when they do so at their 
actual fellow beings, it seems to me that it must be 
with the apologetic reservation of the Quaker sol- 
dier, who, driven into battle under dire compunction, 

(270) 



THE CITIZENS OF VIENNA. 271 

said to an enemy who would not go away, " Friend, 
I am sorry, but thee is standing where I am goino- to 
shoot." 

Here in Vienna everything moves and is moved in 
a sort of dreamy languor, as if the people imbibed 
an infusion of poppy-heads for tea, and smoked opium 
for breakfast. If a person orders something to eat 
in a restaurant, he can consider himself very fortu- 
nate if he gets it after half an hour's waiting. Or, 
if he asks for anything in a store, the purchased arti- 
cle undergoes unheard-of evolutions before it changes 
proprietors, and much time is wasted with compli- 
mentary excess. The Bank is a circumlocutory office, 
and before the teller gets through with you, he moves 
lazily but smilingly into a half dozen different com- 
partments, corning back from one to ask a civil ques- 
tion ; from another, to make a pleasant remark ; and 
from a third, to knock the ashes off his cigar. It is, 
indeed, marvellous how, in the limited period since 
the creation of the world, these good citizens of Vi- 
enna ever found time to build and absolutely finish 
so many great and beautiful palaces. For in the 
number and splendor of its edifices this city is prob- 
ably second to none other of equal dimensions in 
Europe. 

The nearly finished new opera-house excites the 
wonder and admiration of all ; though a couple of 
years, it is said, are still necessary for its comple- 
tion; whereas, if the thing was to be done at New 
York, a month at the most would suffice. This re- 
minds me that I witnessed a performance the other 
night of the whole Mythology done up in an operatic 



272 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

play, called Orpheus in the Lower Regions ; in which 
the ancient Jupiter shared my sentiments precisely 
about this Austrian languor ; for, in scolding his 
children, Venus, Diana, Minerva, and others — all 
Viennese, of course — he accuses them of being always 
too late at breakfast, in consequence of which he 
was obliged to eat his ambrosia cold. Even the 
trains on the railroads of Austria run slower than in 
other countries, as if it was feared the engine might 
feel uncomfortable — they are so very considerate 
here. It does not appear that the people of Vienna 
can become passionate or excited ; but life seems 
rather like a sweet dream of sensuality that sweeps 
in balmy wavelets over every soul, and envelops every 
physical organization in a mantle of serene content. 
Here Occident and Orient appear to meet on neutral 
ground in a kind of holy alliance, — barring the holy, 
— and a charitable forbearance with each other's 
frailties is the Alpha and Omega — the first constitu- 
tional article of their social deliberations. 

In view of the fact that the Austrian people are 
exceedingly loyal to their imperial guardian, Francis 
Joseph, and sneeze very dutifully whenever he takes 
snuff, one would naturally think that the halcyon 
atmosphere of the public mind would have been ruf- 
fled not a little during the past year and better ; for 
a grief happening to the House of Hapsburg is a 
family grief all over the country ; and the defeat at 
Koniggratz, followed this year by the melancholy 
death of the Archduchess Matilda, and the still more 
lamentable fate of Maximilian of Mexico, have been 
events that certainly tried the sensational capacities 



LIFE IN VIENNA. 273 

of this House with uncommon rudeness. And in 
reality, too, the people have been for once what they 
call " sehr avfgebracht" especially at the summary 
proceeding with Maximilian. 

Just now Francis Joseph and Napoleon are about 
having a meeting, for the purpose of condoling with 
each other, at Salzburg ; which event is caricatured 
in the comic illustrated newspapers of Vienna by a 
head of Napoleon represented as the nucleus of a 
comet, followed by a long and streaming tail ; and 
the terror-stricken Salzburgers exclaim: "Behold the 
comet ; this surely portends a war 1 " for nothing 
would delight Austria so much as to set France and 
Prussia by the ears. 

As at Paris, the people here are very fond of taking 
their meals, or -sipping their drinks, in the open air, 
under pretty pavilions or kiosks, and every hotel has 
some open ground attached to it for this purpose. 
There are, however, very large places of this kind for 
general resort, as Dommayer's Casino at Hietzing, at 
the Prater, and at the Volksgarten. At either of 
these places thousands may be seen every afternoon, 
smoking their cigars and drinking down the nectar 
of the grapes or barley, and drinking in, also, the 
delicious strains of soul-stirring music, under the 
personal direction of the great Strauss himself. Here 
ladies, in sweet companionship, make time fly swiftly 
by, or come by themselves to sit under the trees and 
knit, or chase their busy fingers in the skilful art of 
some beautiful embroidery. Nor will one of these 
latter deem it the slightest rudeness if a stranger 
with polite manners seats himself by her side, and 

18 



274 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

enters into conversation with her. There is abso- 
lutely no necessity of securing an introduction first ; 
but frankly and graciously she will probably chat 
and laugh along with him, as if she were a cousin of 
the stranger at least, and expected to go to a party 
with him in the evening. Music of some sort is per- 
formed here in these public gardens every day, either 
by the regimental bands or Strauss' great orchestral 
corps, and that from five o'clock until nine in the 
evening. Thus a taste for the divine art is cultivated 
among the masses, and, as a consequence, almost 
everybody prefers attending an opera to a drama ; in 
fact, there are hardly any performances on the stage 
that are not more or less operatic in character. 2s"or 
is this to be wondered at ; for who would not pre- 
fer witnessing a romance performed and expressed 
through the medium of touching melodies, rather 
than the unnatural ranting and declamatory violence 
of the old-fashioned drama ? Thus I sat to the opera 
of the Huguenots a few evenings ago ; and the sad 
story of St. Bartholomew's night was most effectively 
delineated by those grand and lofty strains, every 
note of which is full of religious sentiment, and the 
dulcet love-cadences in a constant though timid strug- 
gle with the former, the harmonious timing and 
blending of all which Meyerbeer has so signally 
achieved in this great production. And at Dresden 
I saw the representation of the opera of Eienzi, by 
Richard AVagner, the second act of which was the 
grandest musico-spectacular affair I ever beheld on 
any stage. It depicted one of those joyous festivals 
with which Rome, in the days of her greatest glory, 



TEE OPERA— THE IMPERIAL VAULT. 275 

celebrated all important occasions. There were songs, 
and processions, and dances, and gladiatorial combats, 
and the entire scene was dressed up in regal splendor. 
At least a hundred and fifty persons participated in 
the performance, and at the back of the spacious 
stage was a military band, playing in unison with 
that of the orchestra, and constituting at least eighty 
musicians in all. How could it have been possible to 
portray such a festival without the music ? Nor was 
the impression less characteristic that was occasioned 
by the thrilling accompaniment of the grand finale, 
when — with a little perversion of history — the last 
of the tribunes and his sister perish in the flames of 
their burning palace. 

A place of peculiar and solemn interest in Vienna 
is the vault in the church of the Capuchins, where 
rest the mortal remains of the Imperial family, from 
Kaiser Matthias, who died in 1619, to the unfortunate 
Archduchess Matilda, who was accidentally burned 
to death some few months ago in her own room, and 
whose ashes rest in the last sarcophagus that was de- 
posited here. Should Admiral Tegethoff, who has 
been sent to Mexico for the body of the late Emperor, 
succeed in obtaining it, that also will be placed into 
this mausoleum. The vault is very capacious, and 
contains a great number of sarcophagi, many of which 
have been produced at enormous expense. That of 
Maria Theresa, for instance, cost a half million florins , 
and the one which holds the dust of Maria Louisa, 
the second wife of Napoleon I., is made of solid silver, 
and weighs sixteen hundred pounds. Her son, the 
Duke of Reichstadt, also reposes here. Threading 



276 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

one's way between the individual receptacles of these 
historic dead, much food there is for earnest medita- 
tion over frail mortality — that grim visitor who 
knows no distinction of persons of high or low de- 
gree, hut equalizes kings and beggars, and strikes 
mercilessly home at the vanity of all. Leaving these 
premises where costly and extravagantly besculptured 
coffins constitute the very mockery of greatness, I 
passed into the abode of the living who are destined 
for, but have not yet reached, this goal of their short 
c ireer. 

The palace of Sehonbrunn, the principal residence 
of the Emperor, is the most gorgeous of any that I 
have seen — exceeding that of St. Cloud in its internal 
magnificence. Under the guidance of an official, one 
may pass, when the family is absent, through all the 
apartments of the building, save only the chamber of 
the Empress ; that of the Emperor is not withheld 
from the curious inspection of the visitor. The room 
is pointed out where the First Napoleon held his re- 
ceptions, as the conquering hero, in 1809, being the 
same wherein the young Duke of Eeichstadt after- 
ward died. The suite of apartments that are, proba- 
bly, most brilliantly furnished, are those in which 
the Sultan was installed a short time ago. A portion 
of the Palace is still retained in the condition it was 
in, and with the furniture it contained during the 
life-time of the great Empress Maria Theresa. Her 
boudoir was certainly a very charming retreat, of 
sextagonal sides, walled with mirrors, so that the 
lady could see her reflection multiplied as infinitely 
and variously, almost, as the visions of a kaleidoscope. 



UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA. 277 

Then she had another room for private reception, in 
the centre of which an inlaid portion of the floor con- 
stitutes a table that could be caused, by means of some 
cunning mechanism, to descend into the apartments 
below, to be there supplied by the domestic myr- 
midons, and ascend again furnished with good things 
for the stomach's sake. By this ingenious contriv- 
ance, she could avoid the intrusive presence of ser- 
vants and other household deities; for the number 
of her retinue — historians say — was great; and if 
they were half as gossipy as these necessary incum- 
brances are now-a-days, then this arrangement of the 
fair Empress was a marvel of utility. The latter 
clause, I am shocked to say, was the scandalous re- 
mark of my American friend. 

The University of Vienna is a scholastic institution 
of the highest merit, the lectures of whose various 
faculties are attended by an aggregate number of 
some twenty-five hundred students, and by an equal 
additional number of honorary hearers. The general 
hospital is the most capacious asylum of the kind in 
Europe, and offers unequalled advantages to students 
of medicine in clinical and pathological studies. I 
here had the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of 
the world-renowned pathologist, Professor Roki- 
tansky, and was quite captivated by his generous 
cordiality. This gentleman, during his valuable pro- 
fessional career, has thus far superintended, person- 
ally, the post-mortem examination of over fifteen 
thousand human subjects. His thorough and con- 
tinued investigations through so many years of all 
manner of diseased conditions to which human flesh 



278 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

is heir, have so completely familiarized him with 
morbid and sound structure, and all the manifold dis- 
tinctions between health and sickness, that before his 
quick and practised eye men are, as it were, of glass, 
so ready is he to detect any defectiveness in the 
human organization. As the skilful watchmaker 
discovers on a cursory glance the impaired machinery 
of a chronometer, the small particles of dust or 
thickened grease, that retard the motion of its 
wheels ; the bent or broken teeth therein ; the 
elongated or contracted lever ; the disturbed balance- 
wheel ; the broken main-spring ; even so does Doctor 
Rokitansky take in, with a familiar look, the swollen 
liver, the enlarged heart, the wasted lungs, and all 
the cranky parts that disturb in its sublime motion 
the godlike mechanism of man. He has already dis- 
tinguished himself so eminently that honors and titles 
are showered upon him from all sides. Yet he is as 
plain, single-hearted, and jolly a man as one might 
wish the whole world to be peopled with. For- 
tunately, he is still in the very prime and vigor of 
life ; and may continue his usefulness to the human 
race with many important discoveries ; for he is zeal- 
ous in his labors, lives in the hospital, and is wedded 
only to science. His professional private duties con- 
sist chiefly in consultations, to which he is solicited 
by other physicians ; when he never occupies himself 
with the treatment, but solely with the matter of 
establishing a diagnosis of the disease. In this his 
opinion is law, and respected as such by the entire 
faculty. If you go to Rokitansky with a sickness 
that is benignant in its . nature and subjective to 



THE SIGHTS OF VIENNA. 279 

remedies, he will explain the difficulty and say every- 
thing for your encouragement. But if the stealthy 
fiend is gnawing at your vitals in some terrible or 
malignant shape, though it may not disturb your 
body with pain, or your mind with apprehensions, 
he will tell you that you are going to die, and then — 
with all the doctors and undertakers in Vienna, your 
doom is sealed. 

The idiomatic modification and dialectic pronuncia- 
tion of the German language by the masses of the 
people here are perfectly outrageous ; they are as bad 
as Pennsylvania Dutch, and not very unlike it. My 
American friend, who understands the Old Keystone 
lingo to perfection, says he feels quite at home, and 
is passing himself off for a native Viennian all the 
time. The other day, however, he was taken aback 
somewhat, when a fruit-woman in the market-place 
told him to — " Schonswoshipschopricosenurzdreikreit- 
zer stick! " 

Much might be written yet of the noteworthy 
places of this city ; but the description could only be 
similar to those that I have already given of other 
places. Here is the beautiful St. Stephen's Cathedral 
with one of the highest steeples in the world, and of 
a very pure order of Gothic architecture throughout. 
There are other magnificent churches, galleries of 
paintings and temples of sculpture ; monuments and 
museums, all of great merit and most interesting as- 
sociations. Worthy of special mention is the monu- 
mental group in the St. Augustin's church, dedicated 
to the memory of the Archduchess Maria Christina, 
daughter of Maria Theresa. It was executed by 



280 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Canova for the sum of twenty thousand ducats, and 
is said to be one of the chefs-d'oeuvre of that distin- 
guished genius. 

My visit to Vienna was made doubly agreeable 
through meeting, on the train hither, with the Rev. 
Dr. Mann, pastor of the German Lutheran Zion's 
Church, of Philadelphia, who is here on a visit, ex- 
pecting to return to America next month. Together 
we went sight-seeing, exchanging sentiments, and 
comparing opinions over the various subjects that 
engaged our attention. And when he was obliged to 
leave, in another direction from that which I was 
going, I felt like separating from an old friend, rather 
than from the casual acquaintance of a few days. 
For, after all, this travelling and going into ecstacies 
over the fading glories of the old world is deprived 
of its greatest charm when there is no one to share 
the pleasures of it. 



LETTER XX. 
OVER THE SEMMERING. 

VISIT TO A WONDERFUL CA VE AT ADELSBERG. — TRIESTE. 
THE CHOLERA MORTALITY IN ITALY. — SUPERSTITION 
AND IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE.— VENICE. — FUMIGA- 
TION PROCESS ON ENTERING THE CITY.— CURIOSITIES 
OF THE PLACE. — MILAN— ITS MAGNIFICENT CATHE- 
DRAL.— THE LAKE OF COMO.— GENOA — ARRIVAL IN 
FLORENCE. 

Florence, August, 1867. 

LEAVING Vienna for Trieste, I passed over one 
of the most romantic railroad routes that have 
thus far been completed ; threading its way through 
and between the Styrian Alps, and over the particular 
one known as the Semmering, at the highest point 
of which the road is nearly three thousand feet above 
the Adriatic Sea. It crosses valleys and rivers over 
viaducts and bridges to the number of fifteen, and 
traverses equally as many tunnels ; and the scenery 
along the entire distance of three hundred miles is 
of the wildest and most picturesque description. 

At Adelsberg, a town about fifty miles north of 
Trieste, I stayed over till the following day, in order 
to visit under the adjacent mountain the renowned 
cave, similar to our Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, 
and which, indeed, presented to my astonished gaze 
the most wonderful and stupendous eccentricity of 
nature that I ever beheld. Entering the cave, in 

(281) 



282 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

company with two English gentlemen and five guides, 
through a door of iron grating, we passed along a 
subterranean gangway a distance of a hundred yards 
or more, when we reached a vast expansion of it, 
called the Dome, at least a hundred feet high, and 
the same in width through every direction. Before 
proceeding farther, I should state, that the entire 
cave had been illuminated for us, at a reasonable 
expense, with a great number of lights, amounting 
in all to over a thousand. We passed along the side 
of this dome over a corridor or gallery of rock, mid- 
way between floor and ceiling, and over two natural 
bridges, under which a stream of water called the 
Piuka runs along, and is lost to human ken under 
the mountain, appearing again in the outer world at 
a distance from here of about eight miles. This 
stream, in connection with the section of the cave 
close by known as the Region of Pluto, fills one's 
mind with all the dread imagery of a veritable river 
Styx. What if old Charon should come along with 
his ugly boat to transport our souls before they were 
ready ; in which dreadful case, never having been 
honored with funerals, we might have been doomed 
to wander about in that sepulchral region for a hun- 
dred years. (See Lempriere.) As it was, the mur- 
muring sound of this rushing water, coming up 
from the gloomy depth into the grave-like stillness 
of these parts, was ominously perplexing to folks of 
tender nerves. "We passed onwards in the windings 
of this cavernous channel, ascending and descending 
in its course, and turning angles to the right and left, 
till we reached another expansion forming a great 



THE CAVE AT ADELSBERG. 283 

chamber, known as the Dancing-IIall, which affords 
comfortable room for a thousand persons. Further 
on two considerable acclivities of the cave are called 
the one, the Greater, and the other, the Lesser Mount 
Calvary ; though wherein the analogy consists it is 
difficult to conceive. In traversing briskly the whole 
of these subterranean passages, we required precisely 
two hours' time, from which circumstance some idea 
may be formed of their capacity. Almost through- 
out the entire cave the ceiling is studded with innu- 
merable stalactites, large and small, and presenting 
shapes and figures of every conceivable description ; 
as curtains, hanging in folds of surprising natural- 
ness, appearing like woven texture of alternate white 
and red-colored stripes — the red being occasioned by 
the droppings of ferruginous waters — and are per- 
fectly translucent when a light is placed behind them. 
There are shapes, too, that have an exact similitude 
to an organ in a church, with all its pipes in view ; 
of pulpits and thrones, and, in short, all manner of 
eccentric configurations. From the floor of the cave, 
in numerous places, stalagmites ascend in most gro- 
tesque shapes, as of human beings, animals, palm- 
trees, and cypress. In many instances the stalactites 
from above, and the opposing stalagmites from below 
have gradually increased in the direction toward 
each other, until, ultimately, they united and coal- 
esced, forming solid pillars of Gothic description, 
resembling, in many instances, the time-faded col- 
umns of some old churches and cathedrals, some of 
them being six feet in diameter, and display an archi- 
tecture of rare perfection, appearing especially de- 



284 ACROSS THE ATLAXTIC. 

signed to support the vaulted roof of this extensive 
cavern. When we reflect that all this has been 
wrought by the gradual deposit and solidification of 
earthy matter from the droppings of water that take 
place here, we cannot but be utterly bewildered in 
contemplating what centuries upon centuries must 
have elapsed in these wonderful formations. 

On Whitmonday of every year great festivities are 
celebrated in this cave, on which occasion it is illumi- 
nated with over five thousand lights ; a grand ball is 
held in the Daneing-IIall mentioned above, with all 
its accessories of music, banqueting, &c, and is par- 
ticipated in by a great concourse of people that 
mostly journey hither from Trieste and Vienna. 

From Adelsburg the railroad passes over the bleak- 
est, most desolate, God-forsaken country imaginable ; 
but enters a tunnel at length, and emerges suddenly 
at Trieste in a land where myrtle and olive and fig- 
trees grow in abundance ; where luscious grapes are 
already ripe, and excite devouring meditations ; where 
the wide expanse of the Adriatic Sea charms the 
fancy, and seems the very Tethy's lap wherein Phoe- 
bus snuffs out his light, and sinks into calm repose. 

Here, too, I came at last into a country where no 
overcoat is necessary ; for, with few exceptional days, 
I was obliged to protect my person with such an ar- 
ticle against the inclemency of tbe weather during 
the entire summer, which, it is said, was an unusu- 
ally cold one. But, putting all things together, I am 
satisfied that the climate of Pennsylvania is very 
considerably milder than that of Central Europe. 

Trieste is an important commercial city, and bears 



TRIESTE ON THE ADRIATIC. 285 

about the same relation to Austria that Hamburg 
does to northern Germany. A great deal of traffic 
by shipping is carried on there ; and its population 
is composed of people from all parts of the globe, 
Italians being rather in the preponderance. Next 
follow, in succession, Germans, French, Greeks, 
Turks, English, and Americans ; and the intermin- 
gling of all these people of different languages is 
exceedingly droll. There is a French and a Greek 
church at Trieste ; and the latter being open for ser- 
vice every morning and evening, I took occasion to 
enter it at one of these times, but cannot say that I 
was greatly edified ; for the worship was all Greek to 
me, and, unfortunately, only addressed itself to my 
curious admiration in the light of a sacred pantomime. 

It was a beautiful evening; the moon was just full, 
and the sky as clear and serene as a " pure Italian 
sky " can possibly be ; when, with pleasant anticipa- 
tions of a moonlight sail, in the true spirit of poetry, 
over the Adriatic to Venice, I took up my portman- 
teau, and proceeded to the steamer. There arrived, 
the officer of the vessel greatly disappointed me with 
the statement, that all passengers arriving at Venice 
by sea were obliged to lay fifteen days in quarantine, 
on account of the cholera which is said to prevail in 
Trieste, as well as all through Italy. Having neither 
time nor inclination for such an adventure, I was 
perforce constrained to reverse my steps, and proceed 
to the railroad depot ; and thence, by the first train, 
adopt the most practicable way of reaching Venice. 

In relation to the subject of cholera, I would state, 
that it has, beyond doubt, assumed a very grave 



286 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

form, and made fearful ravages, especially in southern 
Italy. From January to July, as many as 63,376 
cases have heen reported, of which 32,074 died. The 
Sicilian provinces have been the most seriously af- 
fected, and among the deaths there was that of the 
Queen-Dowager of Xaples. More than half the aggre- 
gate cases have proved fatal. ]N"ot one of the forty 
provinces of Italy have been spared, though in some 
cities, such as Florence, only a few cases have occurred. 
Besides this, a moral disease, quite as alarming as the 
physical malady, has been observed throughout Italy, 
especially in the Calabrias and Sicily, though even 
the northern provinces are not free from its contagion. 
This is, the idea that poisonous agencies have been 
disseminated by malevolent means ; and the mind of 
the suffering population is greatly excited by this 
horrid apprehension. The soldiers are supposed to 
be in some mysterious manner connected with the 
cholera ; and a thirst for vengeance is felt by the peo- 
ple, though both officers and men have shown an 
unremitting zeal and kindness in the care of the suf- 
fering and sick. At Mellila, near Syracuse, such was 
the excitement of the populace, owing to their belief 
that poison had been administered by agents of the 
Italian Government, that a large meeting was held in 
the dead of night in the public cemetery, at which it 
was resolved, " that all the Carabiniere and Italian 
agents resident in the place should be killed for 
spreading the cholera." The plot was fortunately 
discovered and frustrated by the authorities. At 
Catania nearly all the shops are closed, and all who 
had sufficient means have escaped from the city. 



VENICE IN THE ADRIATIC. 287 

Prowling dogs and ravenous mendicants have the 
place almost entirely to themselves, and the whole 
active work of life is performed by the soldiers, who 
too frequently fall victims to their arduous and over- 
strained labors. They nurse the sick and bury the 
dead, and, in return for their kindness, meet with 
scoffs and maledictions. The agitation is indescrib- 
able throughout the country, even in the northern 
portion, and in the polished and enlightened city of 
Milan itself. Just now the cholera prevails to a con- 
siderable extent in Rome, still more at Naples, and 
fearfully so at Palermo. 

I arrived at last, by railroad, at Venice, where I 
was greatly surprised to find all the passengers driven 
into a room like a fl^ck of sheep, to be fumigated 
with chlorine, as a preventative against spreading 
the cholera. This made matters look a little serious, 
and persons of constitutional timidity might be 
frightened into sickness by such a very elaborate 
caution against it. Besides, the ordeal is excessively 
annoying, especially to people with tender throats or 
eyes, to say nothing of the ugly impression it makes 
upon the sense of smell. We were kept in this 
chlorinated room about fifteen minutes, during which 
time all had to expose their luggage to be fumed as 
well as their persons. It was amusing to observe 
the different manners in which this fumigation was 
submitted to. Some groaned, and stuffed handker- 
chiefs into their mouths ; others swore and grumbled 
knowingly about "such infernal nonsense," "ridicu- 
lous farces," " imperious fools," and such things ; 
whilst some, and the more sensible portion, took it 



288 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

all down as a good joke, with much merriment and 
funny remarks. Since my initiation into the process 
at Venice, I have been fumigated at every place where 
I stayed over, at least a dozen times in all, and have 
come to the conclusion that it is an institution which 
would not meet with great favor from the travelling 
public of the United States. I can fancy our ladies, 
for instance, being obliged to unpack their Saratogas 
in every station-house, and spread out their ward- 
robes on extended lines, to be scented with the as- 
phyxiating vapors of chlorine, and become the sub- 
ject of mutual critical observations about their char- 
acter of material, the cut of their yokes, and the 
style and finish of their embroidery. Phew ! what 
a jolly riot ! what another V^ar of the Roses there 
would be ! what a refreshing rebellion, after the two 
years' peace that we have had ! though it is doubt- 
ful whether all the " hirelings " of the North and 
South combined could quell it. 

To return to Venice. Wonderful place ! that seems 
like the very Noah's ark of cities, which had been 
built there by unusually cute and perhaps sinful 
people, in anticipation of another deluge. Just to 
think of it ! A large city resting on a submarine 
foundation, rearing her capricious head from the blue 
water as if in coquetry with Neptune, and hoisting 
her jib-sails, splicing her main braces, and shivering 
her timbers in derisive scorn of her more land-lub- 
berly sisters ; a city wherein residents may be met 
who have grown gray with years, and have never set 
foot upon continental soil ; where a person may step 
into the street and take a bath ; or fish for sardines 



VENICE— ITS PECULIARITIES. 289 

with a hook and line out of his chamber-window. 
Where mothers tie cords around their children's 
waists by which they support them while they learn 
to swim in the highways, co-even with their first 
efforts at walking in the houses. The Venetians are 
an amphibious people : nobody ever commits suicide 
by drowning ; if they ever attempt it, the cool bath 
sobers them — produces a reflex action, and they 
calmly swim back to life again. Indeed, of all the 
cities that I have visited, none has left a more lasting 
impression upon my mind than this same curious 
Venice. I never had been able to realize how 
thoroughly that beautiful Queen of the Adriatic is 
immersed in water ; and when the train of cars in 
which I was approaching it was crossing the beauti- 
ful bridge, about three miles long or more, (and some- 
what in construction like that which spans the Sus- 
quehanna at Havre de Grace,) which connects Venice 
with the land, over the narrowest portion of the 
lagoon, I first began to comprehend a dim notion of 
the reality. And when I stepped out of the depot 
right down into an omnibus gondola, which then 
shot rapidly through the watery avenues, passing 
hundreds of other similar boats ; turning corners 
every now and then, and taking the nearest road to 
a distant point of the city, even as one would through 
the solid streets of other places ; seeing foot-passen- 
gers nowhere, and hearing no sound of horse or 
vehicle ; quietness prevailing as you glide noiselessly 
along over the smooth water, at full noon of the day, 
— a quietness approaching that of dead midnight in 
other towns, — then I began to feel as if I had arrived 

19 



290 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

at a city that was floating leisurely about in the sea, 
independent of all and any thing like the solid founda- 
tions of the common earth. Most of the houses are 
built upon vertical piles that are driven into the 
ground under the water ; and some of the large 
churches and old palaces are supported by thousands 
of these piles standing side by side in close proximity, 
and forming a basis of the most enduring character ; 
for the wood, instead of decaying, is acted on by the 
salt water exerting a peculiar chemical influence, 
which, as it were, petrifies it ; and thus the oldest 
foundations are also the strongest of the present day 
in Venice. 

Probably the principal object of interest in this city 
is the Palace of the Doges, whose senate-halls, cham- 
bers of justice (?) Bridge of Sighs, dungeons, and the 
receptaculi for the letters of those innumerable spies, 
recall vivid recollections of the history of that strange, 
cruel, and inquisitorial republic. Passing through 
the Bridge of Sighs, I could not resist a melancholy 
tremor in thinking of the many who had passed that 
way before me with bowed heads, crushed spirits, 
and hopeless hearts — who knew that no criminal 
ever crossed this bridge but once, and that then its 
passage terminated in certain execution. Another 
object of interest is the Bridge of the Eialto, which 
is especially curious for containing twenty-four shops, 
in and around which the busiest traffic takes place. 
To any one with a keen relish for the ludicrous, this 
bridge and the scenes around it must needs afford 
any quantity of amusement. The bustle and tur- 
moil and eternal chattering among the immeasur- 



VENICE— ITS ATTRACTIONS. 291 

ably comic admixture of people, is enough to fill a 
body with the very anguish of delight. And as an 
evidence of the fact to what curious retreats the Eng- 
lish language is capable of penetrating, I would men- 
tion the circumstance that, while gazing into and ad- 
miring the contents of one of the shop- windows on 
this Bridge of the Rialto, my ears w T ere suddenly 
greeted with the voice of a mother, jumping her in- 
fant child up and down upon her knee, addressing it 
with the familiar words of the classic and refined 
passage : 

"Dickery, dickery, dock; the mouse ran into the clock; 
The clock struck one, and out it ran ; dickery, dickery, dock !" 

Need I add, that this inspired specimen of our 
beautiful language moved me almost unto tears ? I 
ascertained, on entering the shop to inquire about 
some Venetian trinkets, that the fond mother was a 
Jewess who had passed the earlier portion of her life 
in London. 

At one end of the bridge is a column of Egyptian 
marble, supported by the figure of a kneeling slave, 
called Gobbo ; from which column the proclamations 
of the Senate, during the time of the Republic, were 
issued. On it also, it is said, the merchant of Venice, 
Antonio, was publicly exposed and disgraced, because 
he "failed in business," by a swindling wild-cat 
operation ; — quite a different story from that which 
Shakspeare gives of the affair. 

All sorts of curious places are pointed out to the 
stranger ; among them the residence, for a time, of 
Lord Byron ; that of Petrarch the poet, who im- 



292 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

mortalized not only himself, but the Laura whom he 
loved so dearly ; the home wherein Titian, the artist, 
lived for many years, and died at the advanced age 
of ninety-nine years, having occupied himself with 
painting to within a very few years of his death ; 
the palace of the eminent Taglioni, who had come 
into great possessions because she understood how to 
dance — certainly her understanding had been very 
useful to her ; the house of Lucretia Borgia is also 
shown; and even — just to think! — the parental 
residence of Desdemona, the spoony but innocent 
victim of Othello's jealousy. 

The first church (and the one pointed out in my 
guide-book as that of greatest interest) that I went 
to see was the St. Giovanni e Paolo, but upon ap- 
proaching it, observed a great confusion and crowd 
of people — a hurrying hither and thither with 
buckets of water — a hydraulic pump in full operation, 
and, in short, all the evidences of a fire. The interior 
of the church had been burning, and the fire was just 
about being subdued ; but many valuable relics and 
paintings, to the estimated amount of twenty million 
francs, had been destroyed. It is supposed that the 
church was set on fire by the Dominican friars ; and 
thereby hangs a tale. It seems that ever since the 
reign of Victor Emanuel over Italy there has been a 
great war between the Dominican and Capuchin 
friars on the one side, and the so-called Evangelical 
priesthood on the other. The king and a great 
majority of the people support the latter ; and re- 
cently a decree had been passed depriving the friars 
of all ecclesiastical rights and privileges ; and the day 
* 



VENICE— REFLECTIONS. 293 

of the fire was that appointed for them to give up 
the keys of the churches and cloisters heretofore 
under their charge. The coincidence has occasioned 
the suspicion alluded to ; and up to the present day 
the friars have heen confined in the church under 
military guard ; and will continue to he so (the 
papers say) until the matter has heen properly in- 
vestigated. What a melancholy picture this bare 
suspicion presents to the mind ! How much of truth 
there is in Pope's lines : — 

"Aspiring to be gods, the angels fell ; 
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel." 

How can religion prosper as it should when doctors 
of divinity are almost as savage, and jealous, and 
envious, and fault-finding with each other's creeds as 
doctors of medicine? Will the blessed millennium 
ever arrive when charity and good feeling shall 
characterize the human family as it ought to ? 

Talking about charity reminds me of a species of 
live stock which enters into the animated nature of 
Venice that has no charity whatever. Allusion is 
made to the mosquitoes. I have erstwhile encountered 
some of the distinguished foreigners in other lands, 
known as the gallinippers of New Jersey; but along- 
side of their Venetian brethren they might have hung 
their guilty heads in shame. For these surpass them 
in the science of phlebotomy so eminently, that hence- 
forth I shall look upon the insertion of a Jersejdte 
mosquito's frail proboscis with pity for his powerless 
efforts, and as a pleasant contrast to the fleshing I 
endured in Venice. 

The romance that attaches itself to this place par 



294 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

excellence, is associated chiefly with its aqueous 
thoroughfares, liued by loug borders of lordly man- 
sions — many of them dismantled and unoccupied, 
decaying relics of the olden time ; thoroughfares that 
are spanned by numerous bridges of every conceivable 
character and design ; of which the one that is com- 
posed exclusively of glass, the Ponte Yecchio, the 
Bridge of the Rialto, and the famous Bridge of 
Sighs are those most worthy of mention. On these 
canals the gondolas are the almost universal means 
of intercourse and transport. They are built in all 
manner of fashions as to style and elegance and 
material, though they vary but little in shapes. 
There are gondola fanciers here as there are horse 
fanciers elsewhere ; and the fancy prices to which 
some of these gayly mounted (with roofs, against 
rain and sunshine, similar to carriage-tops) and gor- 
geously upholstered vessels range is quite in keeping 
with our prices for blooded horses. Races on the 
Canal Grande are quite an institution; and the ex- 
citement on such occasions runs equally high with 
that of those on terra firma. Every male citizen of 
Venice understands, of course, how to row a gondola 
— to be incapable of which would be eminently dis- 
graceful ; yet there are some thousands of public 
gondoliers corresponding to all cab and omnibus 
drivers in other cities. These are a gallant, genteelly 
clad, orderly, and well-behaved class of men, that 
season their occupation with a sprinkling of romance 
whenever opportunity offers. They are high-toned 
fellows — proud of their profession, and have a fine 
sense of honor — evidences of their sterling integrity 
being of daily occurrence. A short time before my 



GONDOLAS AND GONDOLIERS. 295 

arrival, a woman who kept a small wine-saloon, went 
to a merchant with something more than a thousand 
francs to purchase some wines ; but not being satisfied 
with the qualities that were offered her, she returned 
without buying, but dropped her porte-monnai in the 
gondola before leaving it. After she was gone the 
gondolier found the money, and on the evening of the 
next v day proceeded to the woman's little shop; 
whereupon she related to him with tears and lamenta- 
tion the sad misfortune of her loss ; and on his in- 
quiring how she supposed the mishap to have oc- 
curred, she replied that she must have dropped it 
somewhere in the water. The gondolier partook of 
some refreshment for which he paid ; then he restored 
to the woman her lost money, accompanied by a little 
sensible advice to take better care of it in the future. 
Her joy was unbounded ; and she instantly offered 
him a generous dividend from the recovered pro- 
perty; but he would not permit her to reward his 
honesty with a single centime ; yet his self-denial did 
not extend so far as to reject the kisses and endear- 
ments which she lavished upon him in what I was 
told is the true Italian style. 

During one of the wars which Venice waged in the 
day of her republican glory and military prowess, a 
carrier-pigeon was intrusted with an important de- 
spatch from a general in the field to the authorities at 
home. The despatch was received just in time to 
permit reinforcements to be sent to the seat of war, 
by which the general was enabled to gain a victory 
on the very heels of a disastrous defeat. Ever since, 
all pigeons have been held in sacred veneration by the 
Venetians. There are many thousand of this genus 



296 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of the feathered tribe in the city, having their living 

— like true government officials — from the public 
crib. It is remarkable to witness the accuracy of 
their instinct, when every afternoon, precisely as the 
town-clock strikes two, they come flying in flocks 
from all parts of the city to be fed in the Piazza or 
St. Mark's Place — which is the principal one of the 
few public resorts where the people may promenade 
on a solid bottom. 

On this same St. Mark's or Marcus Place I have 
also heard the finest instrumental music to Avhich it 
was ever my good fortune to listen. Every evening 
from eight to ten o'clock, it is the custom of the 
military band, consisting of about fifty young men 
of handsome mien, tall and erect stature, magnifi- 
cently uniformed, to perform at this place for the 
delight and entertainment of the crowds of impas- 
sioned listeners, principally composed of the fashion 
and beauty of the city, that promenade in this square 

— which latter is brilliantly illuminated by the 
numerous gas-lights of the dazzling shop-windows 
that surround it, and a chandelier lamp-post with 
many burners that send a bright glare in every direc- 
tion from its centre. Although the Germans have 
the reputation of being the best instrumental musi- 
cians, yet, to my taste, all that I heard in the Prater 
of Vienna, or the operas of Munich and Dresden, 
though eminently grand and sublime, was not equal 
in delicious sweetness and softness of tonicity to that 
exquisite discourse of the divine art, which fairly be- 
wildered my senses in this lovely city on the water. 
I have stood upon one spot, a wrapt listener for two 
hours, without the least consciousness of the tiresome 



VENICE— A FUNERAL 297 

fact ; but felt more, if the truth must be told, as if I 
was flying rather than standing. The Italian music 
in itself contains more dreamy poetry and flexibility 
to my ears than any other ; and as it was there ren- 
dered, it made the ethereal air tremulous with the 
very intensity of harmonic sounds. 

I cannot omit, in concluding the subject of Venice, 
to relate my casual observation of one of those 
melancholy events that wind up the affairs of man 
all the world over, namely, a funeral. About a mile 
from the city is situated a small island that is appro- 
priated as a cemetery. As I was scudding along 
through the Canal Grande, among the many places 
of interest to be seen there, my attention was arrested 
by a long procession of gondolas. In the front was 
one somewhat larger than the rest, which is called a 
barke, and covered with a frame-work draped in black 
similar to our hearses. Behind it were several gon- 
dolas filled with priests, who were chanting, all the 
while, in a solemn undertone, the evident service of 
some religious ceremony. These were followed by 
quite a number of other gondolas filled with silent 
attendants on the occasion. I had no difficulty in 
divining that it was a cortege of mourners conveying 
a fellowbeing to his last resting-place. Noiselessly 
it glided on over the still waters ; and aside from the 
novelty of its character to my unaccustomed sight, 
the scene was one fraught with peculiar and earnest 
impressiveness. 

I now crossed the " Italian boot " just about where 
the straps might be supposed to exist — taking 
Venice on the Adriatic as one ; and Genoa, on the 
Mediterranean coast, as the other. 



298 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

The first city that I took a brief look at was Padua, 
celebrated for its classic university that has sent forth 
so many learned doctors — not excepting Shakspeare's 
creation, the fair Portia, whose ingenious argument 
settled so thoroughly the little matter of old Shy- 
lock's bond. Then a glimpse at Verona, whose 
arena, it is said, will serve to break somewhat the 
surprise occasioned by the first sight of the Coliseum 
at Rome. Here, too, one feels an instinctive impulse, 
as it were, to look for the " tomb of the Capulets," 
where should repose (if Shakspeare wasn't such a 
story-teller) the gentle Romeo and Juliet. The tomb 
is such a familiar scene upon the stage, that one 
would be able to recognize it at a glance. 

Proceeding to the city of Milan, I went over the 
historic ground and the rivers Tagliamento, Mincio, 
and Adda — a great portion of that Quadrilateral 
made memorable by many battles, but especially 
those of Solferino and Magenta. 

Milan is a large, handsome, busy, and apparently 
very prosperous city ; but is distinguished principally 
— at least in the estimation of all tourists — for the 
grand Cathedral which it contains ; to enter upon a 
description of which would take much more space 
than I have at t command, and convey no adequate 
idea in the end. The only way to obtain this is to 
see the colossal pile of marble itself, which presents 
in its complicated construction the astounding number 
of seven thousand distinct statues ; to go into its in- 
terior and wander through its five great naves and 
forest of columns of gigantic proportions ; and then 
to ascend its highest pinnacle and look down upon 
the wilderness of spires, each one surmounted by a 



LAKE OF COMO. 299 

statue from the hands of the ablest sculptors. The 
view from the dome of this Cathedral, of' the snow- 
crowned Alps on the one side, and the rich vegetation 
on the far-reaching plains of Italy on the other, is one 
of indescribable beauty and grandeur. Here, too, I 
witnessed for the first time that the proverbial beauty 
of an Italian sky is a reality, and no fiction ; for 
viewed from a short distance through the empty 
spaces of some marble railing that ornaments the top 
of the Cathedral, it seemed to make windows of these 
railings, and filled the spaces with apparent glass of a 
soft azure hue, and the best Bohemian manufacture. 
The genius who could invent such a color, and such 
ethereal texture to line the walls and ceilings of our 
chambers with, would immortalize himself, amass an 
incalculable fortune, and translate our sublunary 
dwelling-places into paradisiacal abodes. 

From Milan I went to the Lake of Como, and took 
a steamboat excursion on its water as far as Bellas-srio. 
The numerous villas on its precipitous shores of slop- 
ing mountains, and the luxurious vegetation with 
which these shores are clothed, aiford a pleasing pro- 
spect to the eye in every direction. My American 
friend kept a sharp lookout for Claude Melnotte's 

"Palace lifting to eternal summer 
Its marble walls, from out a glossy bower 
Of coolest foliage, musical with birds, 
Whose songs should syllable " the name of Pauline. 

There were plenty of such palaces, as well as the 
" breathless heavens," and " arching vines ; " the 
" orange groves " and " murmurs of low fountains," 
too, were there ; and even the " alabaster lamps " and 
" music from sweet lutes " were doubtless present in 



300 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the evening, (I did n't stop to see,) whilst Melnottes 
and Paulines were sprinkled all over the country in 
extravagant profusion. At Bellaggio especially, the 
scenery is quite tropical and lovely in the extreme. 
There was no spot that I could call my own ; but I 
sheltered myself from the warm sun under somebody 
else's " vine and fig-tree," and dreamed of Tennyson's 
beautiful poem — in a garden. My next route was 
by rail to Genoa, through Pavia and Alessandria, 
over the rivers Ticino and Po ; and crossing the 
Apennine mountains through deep gullies and 
numerous tunnels, one of which it took the train ten 
minutes to traverse. To an American the city of 
Genoa would naturally be interesting from its associa- 
tions with the discoverer of our country, Christopher 
Columbus, to whose memory the Genoese appear 
much more attentive now than they were to him 
while living ; for the monument erected to him of 
the purest Carrara marble is one of the finest I have 
seen. The city has all the appearance of a busy, 
bustling seaport, and, for the rest, is scattered about 
the mountain sides a great deal worse than Pottsville. 
It has an old, somewhat slovenly look, and was en- 
veloped, when I was there, in a rather disagreeable 
odor. In a word, I shall never become a citizen of 
Genoa. 

The dinner that was served at table d'hdte the day 
that I was at Genoa, deserves, methinks, a little more 
than a passing notice, and shall have it. In the first 
place, there was Vermicelli soup, into a plateful of 
which every guest put a tablespoonful of grated 
Parma cheese. After this was dispatched, we had 
butter and sardines ; then some fried sole, (more fish,) 



FROM GENOA TO FLORENCE. 301 

with a slice of lemon. Next, roast veal, with dress- 
ing consisting of boiled rice, tomatoes, potatoes, and 
sourkrout, all on the same dish. This was followed 
by boiled macaroni, (not the kind we buy in the 
candy-shops,) highly flavored with onions. Then 
again, roast chicken, cut up in very small pieces, and 
all covered over with a batter of eggs and a thick 
sprinkling of young pepper-pods. Next, thin slices 
of broiled beef all curled up (apparently under the 
agony of broiling) with a dressing of young lettuce 
and some more onions. Now followed some kind of 
pudding, made principally, I think, of macaroni and 
onions, which was succeeded by a slice of cheese — 
not Parma cheese — and a slice of butter. After 
this ensued the desert, consisting of sweet cakes, 
peaches, fresh figs, grapes, watermelons, cantaloupes 
almonds, and walnuts. During the whole of the 
meal there had been a plentiful supply of ice-water 
and wine. I would like to know how it is possible 
to get the cholera on such living ? 

Leaving Genoa, I travelled fourteen hours in a 
diligence, all the time in view of the Mediterranean 
Sea, to Spezzia, and thence per railroad to Leghorn 
and Pisa. In the latter place I ascended the Leaning 
Tower, and entered the cathedral, in which, as the 
most noteworthy thing, may be mentioned the 
chandelier suspended from the ceiling of the dome, 
from which Galileo made his first observations of the 
pendulum in reference to the rotation of the earth. 
From Pisa two hours of very quick travelling by rail- 
road brought me to Florence, all aglow with expec- 
tations, and still more with the temperature of the 
weather. 



LETTEK XXI. 

LUXURIANT VEGETATION OF ITALY. — THE ITALIAN BEG- 
GARS.— ART— A VISIT TO THE STUDIO OF HIRAM POW- 
ERS.— MY AMERICAN FRIEND'S ADVENTURES. — FROM 
FLORENCE TO ROME.— A FAIR SNUFFER. — POETICAL EF- 
FUSION OF M. A. F.— THOUGHTS ON THE ETERNAL CITY.— 
THE CA THEDRALS OF ST. PETER AND ST. PA UL. — HIS HO- 
LINESS, PIUS IX. 

Rome, September, 1867. 

"Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen bliihn, 
Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen gliihn? " 

A JOURNEY through Italy at this season of the 
year impresses the tourist not only with the tri- 
umphs of Art, but also with the abundant generosity 
of Nature which this land enjoys. Its cereal vegeta- 
tion does not indeed appear as thrifty as in the 
greater portion of our own country, and its grass 
looks strangely sallow and stunted in growth ; but 
the great variety and luxuriousness of its flowers, 
vines, and, mostly, fruit-bearing trees, afford a pano- 
rama of bewildering effect, and such a plentiful har- 
vest of good things to eat, with no apparent labor 
but the picking of them, that one almost compre- 
hends a natural excuse for the idleness of the Italian 
people. 

There are places where the railroad passes not only 
through sporadic groves, but whole forests of olive 
and fig-trees. All around may be seen, scattered 

(302) 



TOPOGRAPHICAL ITALY. 803 

about in delightful disorder, peaches, plums, and 
pears ; whilst the blushing apples, pomegranates, and 
golden-cheeked lemons and oranges peep, half con- 
cealed but lovingly, from out their dark-green foliage, 
or glitter in the sunlight as the train speeds rapidly 
along. There are great fields of a tall vegetable that 
resembles sugar-cane, but contains little or no saccha- 
rine matter, the leaves of which are used for fodder, 
and the stalks to support the grape-vines, which 
grow as natural here as weed, and *bend under the 
weight of their luscious burden. Almonds, hazel- 
nuts, and walnuts abound in great affluence ; and I 
have passed over miles of country where chestnut- 
trees are as plenty as pine-trees in Schuylkill County, 
and look fa? more dangerous with their multitude of 
bristling burs, than the nulle me tangeres, or touch- 
me-nots, of our hot-house cultivation. The palm, 
acacia, pine, cypress, myrtle, and pepper are the orna- 
mental trees of the country, and a great variety of 
the cactus adorn the gardens, some of them attaining 
a remarkable size. The flowers are so numerous and 
diversified in hue, that they constitute the natural 
school for artists in the study of colors. 

Thus Italy truly enjoys the blessings of nature to 
a rare extent ; and it is with unfeigned pleasure that 
I feel enabled to express the conviction, that from the 
present union of its States, and a judicious rule of 
Victor Emanuel, a thorough and radical change will 
take place, that will greatly improve the social con- 
dition, and further. materially the power and prosper- 
ity of the nation. Already, I am told, during the 
past few years, the cities of Yenice, Milan, Florence, 



304 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

and the country generally have brightened up greatly, 
and manifested an industrial impulse and energy for 
a long time unknown. The King is generally liked 
by his subjects, and their admiration for that modern 
Cincinnatus, Garibaldi, amounts to absolute enthusi- 
asm. With all this, however, there is a great deal 
in the character of these people deserving of unspar- 
ing censure ; and whatever improvement is taking 
place in their moral and social status, is all the more 
gratifying because there is such wonderful room for 
it. It is a pity that the Italian people are not pos- 
sessed of a little more pride — not the pride that clus- 
ters around their fine arts ; they have plenty of that, 
the dear knows ; but that other quality of pride, 
which would restrain them somewhat inHhe practice 
of their very vulgar arts of begging and cheating. 
They appear to consider themselves lawfully entitled 
to all the money that anybody brings into the coun- 
try, and the manner of getting it is a mere matter of 
talent. Thus at Florence, for instance, on desiring 
my landlord's bill, I found it fully three times the 
amount of the usual hotel charges. I had been cau- 
tioned against such attempts, and advised to resist 
them ; so I became quite exasperated, and opened on 
his sensitive Italian ears with such a running fusil- 
lade of indignation, such a tirade of abuse, expressed 
in the hor rides t, most stupifying American-French 
he ever listened to, I '11 warrant me, in all the days 
of his life. — En passant : it is wonderful how a body 
can talk French under excitement ; probably the lan- 
guage was originally invented for the special accom- 
modation of angry people, or people in love, which, 



EXORBITANT LANDLORD — BEGGARS. 305 

after all, when critically analyzed, amounts to abont 
the same thing, for in both instances it is necessary 
to be a little beside one's self. — -"Well, the landlord 
astonished me with some obsequious twaddle about 
mistakes, and reduced the bill just one half. This 
circumstance is only mentioned because it illustrates 
the want of pride above alluded to — in the first place, 
that the man made such an unscrupulous overcharge ; 
and, in the second place, because he didn't stick to it, 
like an American would have done after he had 
made it. 

Beggars of every description waylay the stranger 
from all sides, and contribute an annoying constraint 
upon all his movements, especially in and before the 
churches, and in all public places. Young boys and 
girls, and old, palsied women are alike impressive with 
their demands ; while stout, stalwart men desire a 
pittance for " macaroni " with an imperiousness that 
makes one almost feel criminally indebted to them, 
and wonder whether their demand is not backed by 
a writ of ejection, which they are ready to produce 
at your first sign of refusal to " poney up." It was 
not the season during which one might see Florence 
in its gayest aspect ; for the number of strangers in 
the city was very small, and they, after all, add greatly 
to the life and attractiveness of all Italian cities. 
Yet on Sunday afternoon and evening the Lung 
Arno, its principal street, was quite lively with fash- 
ionable turnouts and pedestrian promenaders, whilst 
the river was motley with many boats, containing, 
apparently, very happy and troubadourish swains, 
20 



306 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

who made the air vocal with, loud songs until late 
into the night. 

Whoever travels in Italy cannot help hut unite, in 
a measure at least, a study of the arts with whatever 
else may constitute his special motive. Even indi- 
viduals whose plain understanding does not grasp 
anything "beyond the matter-of-fact realities of life — 
who have no soul for ideal loveliness, no sesthetical 
conception of the sublime, — when they come here, 
they unconsciously, and involuntarily, almost, become 
admirers of Art. For in Italy, Art is so intimately 
interwoven with Nature, and so thoroughly associ- 
ated with the ordinary habitudes of life, as if a 
knowledge of architecture, painting, and sculpture 
was a part of the organic law of the land. At every 
step the creations of human genius arrest the eye ; 
and it is but necessary to breathe, to walk, and to 
gaze, to become comparative connoisseurs. Every 
church is a temple of art, every palace an academy 
of designs, and every public square a colonnade of 
statues. Next to Borne, Florence is in this respect 
probably the most replete city in the world ; but an 
adequate description of it comes not within the com- 
pass of my letter. Suffice it to say, that it is there 
where the original of the world-renowned Venus di 
Medicis, (which, by the way, is in my estimation far 
inferior to the Capitoline Venus at Borne,) that of 
Canova, and the Madonna della Seglia may be seen. 
On this subject I would mildly throw out the opinion, 
that the hypercritical theory of fanatic artists, namely, 
that no creation on canvas or in marble, however nude 
it may appear, can suggest any vulgarity to the per- 



HIRAM POWERS' STUDIO. 307 

fectly pure-minded spectator, is a bit of enthusiastic 
fiction ; and it is disgraceful that in the boasted re- 
finement of our age the world submits to the public 
exposure of such works as the Venuses of Titian, or 
the statues just mentioned, whose very semblance to 
nature constitutes their objectionable quality. 

One of the cheerfullest reminiscences of my sojourn 
in Europe will ever be my visit to the studio of Hi- 
ram Powers, the American sculptor at Florence. He 
detained me a long time, and was exceedingly oblig- 
ing, taking me through all his rooms, and conferring, 
in the running conversation, much useful information 
on the subject of his beautiful aft. Nor was it from 
any motives of business ; for I apprised him at the 
beginning of our interview that I could make no 
purchases, and my visit would therefore be an abso- 
lute trespass upon his time and kindness. He had 
in his studio a copy of his Greek Slave, (the price of 
which is $4000, if any of my readers would like to 
have it,) another of his statue of California, and was 
working on a model of a third, to be called the Last 
of the Tribes. These works are second to no modern 
productions ; but, unfortunately, there is the aforesaid 
objection to them, of deficiency in the matter of dra- 
pery — or, rather, no drapery at all. Mr. Powers was 
very chatty, and appears to keep himself well posted 
in the political affairs of our country. He gave his 
opinion about President Johnson " in phrases not 
equivocal," and said that one of the greatest trials of 
his life was that lie could not exercise his privilege 
of the elective franchise. 

With a view of going thoroughly into the merits 



308 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of this classic city, my American friend signified his 
desire to have an English gnide, to accompany him 
in the pursuit of knowledge. Presently a little, 
sharp-featured, wiry-looking old man presented him- 
self before him, with such a spasmodic motion, as if 
some invisible imp from behind was constantly prick- 
ing his flesh with an invisible pin. He had, under 
his pale, thin, Florentine nose, such a heavy mous- 
tache, that the weight of it seemed to pull his head 
forward, and ever and anon he would jerk it back, 
like a man constantly catches himself going to sleep 
in church. He was dressed in a rather shabby-gen- 
teel suit of clothes, had a very high, somewhat dented, 
and faded silk hat under his arm, and an umbrella in 
his hand. 

" Are you the guide I sent for ? " said M. A. F. 

u Yes, seer," replied he, with a series of contortions 
that were meant for bows. 

" Do you understand English?" 

" Yes, seer, I spik Ingliss veree gude." 

" AVhere cli 1 you learn it ? " 

" Oh, seer, I can told you zat I haf lif twentee 
ye-ars in zee London. You von Signor Americano ? 
Ah, yes, seer — I haf also lif von long time in Amer- 
ica. It ees von veree bootiful contree. I haf travel 
wiz zee lords and zee princes veree much." 

""Well," said M. A. F., "you are no great shakes 
at our good Yankee English, anyhow ; but come along 
and show me what there is to see in this cracked-up 
town of yours." 

So off they started — these two, by force of circum- 
stances, approximated strangers — like twin brothers, 
in search of useful and ornamental wonders. 



M. A. F. GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 309 

After staring their way through the house of 
Michael Angelo ; climbing the Campanile ; wander- 
ing through the Boboli garden ; and then committing 
to their souls the beauties of the Palazzo Pitti, they 
came at last to a full pause in the Tribuna of the 
Uffizi gallery. But oh I the wonders of this famed 
Tribuna consisted not chiefly in the ravishing Medi- 
cean Yenus that was standing — apparently shivering 
with cold — on a pedestal in the middle of this 
octagonal cabinet ; nor in the Madonnas of Raphael 
or Guido Reni ; nor in that seductive masterpiece of 
the voluptuous Titian. No ; not in these. But there 
sat before an easel the most transcendently beautiful 
creature that my American friend ever beheld. She 
was no picture or statue, but a living thing, trans- 
forming, with her magic brush, upon the canvas 
before her, a copy of that simple, honest-looking 
Adam that was painted by Cranach ; and oh I how 
much more perfect was the copy than the original ! 
It was Adam as he was in his innocence ; and he 
seemed to return the sharp gaze of the fair artiste 
who was taking his likeness, as though he mistook 
her for his own gentle Eve, and wondered how she 
became enveloped in all that covering. The dear, 
good fellow ! had he only stepped down out of that 
handsome frame, he might have seen Eve similarly 
situated on the wall behind the door — looking sweetly 
at, and apparently offering her apple to the young 
Apollo (in Parian marble) that stood lovingly before 
her. "While my American friend was fast losing his 
senses over the charms and genius of this Tuscan 
artiste, he was suddenly brought round again by her 



310 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

saying : " Signor, if you weel, I sell you zis bootifule 
imitazeeone for fiftee francs." Then rising, she 
walked away from the painting to point out its 
merits under the best advantages of light and dis- 
tance — bending her swan-like neck a little to a side, 
and gazing at her work with a coquettish smile that 
was quite expressive of a thorough satisfaction. But 
what ugly limp was that as she walked across the 
room? and what horrid thump at every alternate 
step she took ? Good heavens ! she had a wooden 
leg ! and see, her curls were coming loose I M. A. 
F. now looked again at the picture that had en- 
chanted him so much, and discovered in the new 
light that he had been mistaken — it was a mere 
daub. 

" Non, merci Men" said he, u je rCen veux pas" (he 
always spoke French to these Italians,) and away he 
went. 

The guide now conducted my American friend to 
the studio of the celebrated Rootho Gordie, known 
as the greatest Madonna painter of the present cen- 
tury. 

Passing through an ante-room, they there found 
some half dozen or more young ladies, lounging list- 
lessly about the apartment ; a few occupied in read- 
ing, and the rest in idle prattle. 

"Who are these ladies? " inquired M. A. F. 

" Zees ladees, seer," said the guide, " are zee models 
for zee arteest." 

" But they are all faulty in many respects," returned 
M. A. F., in a language the models did not understand. 

" Yes, seer ; but zey all haf von fine traite in par- 
ticular, and zat constitute zee model." 



ITALIAN ART MODELS. 311 

" Will you please explain yourself? " said M. A. F. 

" Wiz pleasure, seer ; you see zat ladee wiz zee noble 
front — zee vat you call zee forehead ? " 

" Yes ; but what good is a fine forehead with a 
nose like that under it ? " 

" Pardon, Signor ; zee arteest he no want zee nose 
— he just use zee forehead — and he take zee nose of 
zat ozzer ladee vat you see by zee window." 

" Ah, yes ; that one has a fine classic nose, no 
doubt ; but just look at her horrid mouth and 
shocking bad teeth." 

" It ees true ; but he get von booteeful mouth and 
pearlee teeth from zat ladee wiz zee one eye." 

"Just so. I begin now to understand you. He takes 
the best parts of these models ; flowing hair here, spark- 
ling eyes there, and splendid bust yonder ; ruby lips 
from one and rosy cheeks from another — combines 
them all in one painting, and thereby turns out a 
perfect Madonna." 

" Eggzactlee, seer, you compreehend veree well." 

They were now ushered into the studio proper, 
where the great artist was just at work drawing his 
inspirations from the exquisitely pretty hand of a 
poor young girl who had a crooked spine. 

He received the visitors graciously; and, after 
showing them successively his entire stock of paint- 
ings on hand — mentioning the price of each — he 
politely requested to know which one or two or half 
dozen of these incomparable productions the " noble 
American Signor " desired to purchase. 

The noble American Signor wound up this little 
business matter by purchasing a carte-visite photo- 



312 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

graph of the noble Rootho Gordie himself, which 
flattered that gentleman as much as if he had taken 
a thousand-franc painting. So the noble American 
Signor and his guide departed. 

The next place to be visited was the gallery and 
studio of the great sculptor, Cutta Figuro. He was 
giving the delicate finishing touches to the eyes of a 
ISTiobe ; and as the quick little strokes of the hammer 
descended on the tiny chisel, the small white crystals 
flew about as though they might be tears shed by the 
sorrowful image for the loss of her children. 

The famed statuario was so busy at his work, that 
he did not observe the entrance of his visitors. Yet 
I suspect that, with all his activity, he was much 
longer converting this stone into a Xiobe, than Jove 
was in transforming the original Xiobe into stone. 
There was the poor model in plaster, all sprinkled 
over with geometrical sticks ; as if it had been at- 
tacked from all sides by a tribe of savage Indians, 
whose poisoned darts appeared to be quivering in all 
the prominent points of her body. Or like the mar- 
tyred Saint Sebastian, who was cruelly pierced through 
by a thousand arrows. A great many marble and 
plaster figures were scattered about this workshop — 
a whole mythology, in short, created from stone, that 
only wanted the important " breath of life " to set it 
in motion. Some half dozen sculptor journeymen 
and 'prentices, with paper caps and white aprons, 
were at work at the component parts of this mytho- 
logy ; polishing up a Flora here, and chiselling down 
an Ariadne in a quiet recess yonder ; whilst others 
were shaping at the forms of a laughing Cupid, a 



M. A. F. AMONG THE SCULPTORS. 313 

jolly Bacchus, and a threatening Jove. They all 
looked as white as millers, from the dust of marble 
and gypsum that pervaded the room, and floated 
around their classic operations. 

It was astonishing to see with how much stoicism 
these laborers worked at their divine trade. Their 
eyes did not sparkle with the light of inspiration ; 
they did not pause to run their fingers through their 
hair ; nor lay down the tools for a moment to rub 
their hands with gleeful satisfaction. No ; not a bit 
of it. They plied their mechanism with no more 
poetry expressed in their looks or action, than may 
be seen in the poor hod-carrier who delivers the 
mortar that makes the rich man's palace stick to- 
gether. 

Here, too, the " noble American Signor " was ex- 
pected to make about a ship-load of purchases ; 
which, however, resolved itself into his becoming the 
proprietor — for a trifling pecuniary stipend — of a 
miniature in alabaster of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 
This he took in his arms, and carried away in great 
triumph — visions flitting across his mind of having 
it standing upon a small table before him, on those 
future occasions when he should be lecturing to his 
countrymen about the curiosities of the Old World. 
But a great misfortune befell this precious trophy of 
art before even he reached his lodgings. As he was 
passing through the Lung Arno, he leaned for a 
moment over the parapet of stone that extends along 
the river-side, to gaze into the limpid water beneath, 
and on the numerous little boats that were flitting 
over its surface, During this interval he placed the 



314 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

alabaster leaning tower by his side upon the wall, 
and looked as though he was about to deliver a 
scientific lecture to the fishes, on this curious speci- 
men of architecture, whose deviation from its per- 
pendicular bothered so many learned heads ; when 
the guide, making a sudden turn of his body, in- 
cautiously swept it off with the end of the umbrella 
that stuck out at right angles under his arm — and 
down with a crash went that Leaning Tower of Pisa, 
breaking into a hundred fragments, which mingled 
with the pebbles on the river-shore. 

Coming from Florence to Rome by railroad, a pretty 
girl entered my compartment of the car, (the cars in 
Italy are divided by lateral partitions to about one- 
third their height ; over which the occupants of one 
division can converse with those of the others — there 
being four to every car,) and immediately commenced 
a conversation with me. But on my giving her to 
understand that her language was too much for my 
comprehension, she said : " Aha ! si, si, Signor," and 
turned her remarks to some ladies and gentlemen 
who occupied the next compartment. She was ap- 
parently about eighteen years of age ; had long, flow- 
ing, raven ringlets ; large and animated black eyes ; 
a rich and beautiful complexion ; a faultless figure ; 
and was altogether charming to behold. She was 
splendidly attired, and to all appearance of genteel 
family. Her conversation with our neighbors became 
animated, and they seemed to take quite a fancy to 
each other. Presently she produced a snuff-box from 
her pocket and took a pinch ; then passed the box 
around, and everybody took a pinch of snuff, as if it 



M. A. F. WRITES BAD VERSES. 315 

was the most natural thing in the world to do so. 
Looking upon this process as upon the going around 
of the peace-pipe among the Indians, I silently took 
a pinch of snuff also, and almost sneezed my head off 
as the consequence. By-and-hy the young lady 
curtsied an excuse to me, and deliberately climbed 
over the partition into the next division, (exposing a 
pair of ingeniously worked garters,) where she could 
continue her conversation with more comfort, and 
which was interspersed with frequent requisitions on 
the snuff-box. As we approached Rome, however, 
the fair snuffer, with many other passengers, had dis- 
appeared, and the train became very much depopu- 
lated, so that every man almost possessed an entire 
compartment to himself, in which he could march 
from side to side, as we rushed along — like a wild 
beast in his cage. Indeed, my American friend 
carried out this idea in a letter which he wrote home, 
and which — there being no secrets between us — I 
was permitted to read. He sometimes writes verses, 
and on this occasion went on as follows : — 

" The next coupe* contained two growling men, 
Like royal Bengal tigers in a pen, — 
An Arab and a Greek I think they were, 
And the adjoining one a Russian bear. 
A long, giraffish-looking Mussulman, 
Who was a Con-stan-ti-no-pol-i-tan, 
Subsided in his stall with wondrous ease, 
Next to a pair of chattering Tortugeese. 
My friend — 'twould doubtless be conjectured soon — 
Was still distinguished as 'that same old coon.' 
And, thus proceeding, you may clearly see, 
We constitute a true menagerie ; 
Just like Dan Rice's caravan, that still 



316 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

■ Exhibits every year on Prison Hill ; 
Because, where'er our devious ways we thread, 
The elephant is sure to be ahead. 
With a keen relish of our vigorous chase, 
He ambles ponderously from place to place ; 
Ascends a mountain now, and now a steeple, 
And then comes down to mingle with the people 
Takes a great interest in the affairs of man, 
And even strays into the Vatican. 
Heigho! I'm weary of this latitude, 
Where foul, malarious influences brood ; 
Where both the weather and the trees we scan 
Suggest the comfort of a palm-leaf fan; 
Where burning insects on a body prey, 
In the most impious, sacrilegious way. 
My comrade — in all kindness —is a fool, 
To take the matter of this heat so cool. 
Should fell disease, or even death betide, 
It really would appear like suicide ; 
For 't was at foolish hardihood's behest, 
And not the courage of a manly breast, 
That thus we wandered forth in dubious ways, 
To broil beneath an equatorial blaze, 
At Leghorn, and at pestilential Rome — 
I wish to goodness we had stayed at home ! " 



"I read no more ; but gently pulled his ear, 

And bade him laugh away his choleraic fear. 
• What ! with such whimpering phrases would you rend 

The heart-strings of your trans- Atlantic friend ? 

Distract her prospect of approaching joy ? 

Cheer up, and be a man again, my boy!'" 

If my American friend does not soon recover from 
the cholera mania, I shall send him home. There is 
no danger in being here at all. I never felt more 
comfortable in my life than during my week's resi- 
dence in this city. Even now there is a heavy 
shower, and it is thundering and lightning in a way 



ROME— ITS ATTRACTIONS. 317 

that I never have seen equalled. This will purify 
the atmosphere, and make Rome as healthy as any 
place in the world. 

• To be in Rome — the Eternal City — the City upon 
Seven Hills — the city of Consuls and Emperors and 
Tribunes — the city of the Pope — is a privilege even 
now, in these days of railroads and unlimited loco- 
motion, that is not vouchsafed to every man ; and I 
feel that it is one of the great turning-points of my 
life — especially as it is to be the end of my journey, 
whence my coarse will be directed homeward once 
more. 

Oh, Rollin and Gibbons, how you crowd yourselves 
upon one's brain at the sight of all these ruins ! How 
you rush upon the memory here with a suddenness 
that becomes painful, after the long years of undis- 
turbed quietness I The Forum, with its rostrum and 
temples to the heathen gods, where the plebeians 
gathered, where Cicero declaimed, and where Marc 
Anthony wailed over the body of the slain Csesar ; the 
remnants of the temples of Vesta and Venus and 
Mars, and of the habitations of Titus, Tiberius, and 
Nero ; the gigantic fragment of the Coliseum, that 
has stood a score of centuries and more — where thou- 
sands of spectators gloated over combats between 
men and the wild beasts of the forest ; and where, 
under the cruel Nero, the adherents of the Christian 
faith suffered the most frightful martyrdom — oh, 
who can gaze on these footprints of the past history, 
and not feel that men's use of the intelligence which 
distinguishes them from the brute creation has been 
a wonderful, unaccountable, and mysterious one ! 



318 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

The Capitoline Hill, the Tarpeian Rock, and the old 
dungeons wherein Paul and Peter were once con- 
fined, and the associates of Jugurtha and Cataline 
ended their lives ; the Triumphal Arches of Titus and 
Constantine ; the Augustus Forum ; the Trajan Col- 
umn, and hundreds of wasting ruins that are here, 
how they excite the wonder and quicken the recollec- 
tion of the beholder ! In fact, nearly the whole of 
Rome has such an antiquated appearance, that it 
seems the peculiar pride of all its inhabitants, that 
nothing should look new. 

What shall I say of the great dome of St. Peter ? 
It often happens that, from much reading and hear- 
say, people form such extravagant conceptions of cer- 
tain great objects, as the Niagara Falls, the Ocean, the 
Alps, or a structure like this of St. Peter's, that when 
they at length obtain' a view of them they are dis- 
appointed. But any conception that I had formed of 
this great edifice fell far short of the reality that I 
beheld. I have been in the habit of telling European 
people that I had seen no structure yet in this coun- 
try equal to the Capitol at Washington ; but that 
speech may no longer be repeated, now that I have 
seen St. Peter's. Some idea of the capacity of its 
enormous cupola may be conceived when it is stated, 
that from one of its inside galleries one may gaze at 
some angels in Mosaic on the opposite wall, and they 
appear of the size of a small infant ; but when I 
walked around to that side and measured the foot of 
one of these angels, it was the length of my fore-arm 
from the elbow to the points of the fingers. This 
cupola was designed by Michael Angelo, and it cer- 



ON THE TOP OF ST PETER'S. 319 

tainly is the proudest monument that ever man erected 
to the perpetuation of his own name and glory. In 
entering the copper ball upon its summit (which ap- 
pears no larger than a cocoa-nut from the earth's sur- 
face outside), I was obliged to squeeze myself through 
an opening scarcely large enough to admit my body, 
yet the interior of the ball has sufficient capacity for 
a dozen men. It is said that the present Emperor of 
Russia took breakfast in it with two friends on the 
occasion of his ascending the dome. The roof of 
the building outside of the dome is almost flat, and 
as large as a good-sized square in a city — say Franklin 
Square, in Philadelphia. It is paved and cemented 
like a street, and, with its many buildings and turrets, 
presents the appearance of a small town. 

What St. Peter's is in comparison with other mon- 
uments of architecture, the Vatican Palace is in re- 
spect to other museums. For, as a general receptacu- 
lum for all manner of art specimens and relics of 
antiquity, it far excels the other museums of Europe 
that I have seen, not excepting the Louvre, of Paris. 
In the Sixtine Chapel I was quite disappointed with 
Michael Angelo's renowned painting of the Last 
Judgment. In fact, all his paintings and statues are 
extravagantly overdrawn, and easily distinguishable 
from all others by their excessive muscularity. He 
gives all his figures a gladiatorial appearance, and 
seems to make no allowance for any cutaneous cover- 
ing. His statue of David, at Florence, and his Mo- 
ses, in one of the churches in Rome, are undoubtedly 
his two finest productions, wherein his favorite dis- 
play of anatomical "knowledge is not so ill-timed as 



320 ACROSS THE A TL AN TIC. 

in some others — his Jesus, for instance, which is 
entirely overdone in this respect. I do not mean to 
undervalue the great talents and genius of that won- 
derful man ; but feel convinced that among his man- 
ifold capacities of painting, sculpture, and architec- 
ture, the latter was decidedly his forte. In the Six- 
tus Chapel there is a frightfully graphic painting 
of the terrible St. Bartholomew's Massacre at Paris, 
which one of the Popes had the bad taste to honor 
and commemorate in this way. The St. Stephen's 
Church is distinguished chiefly for its capacious ro- 
tunda, and for its many paintings in fresco, that de- 
lineate, in a vivid manner, the various and repulsive 
means by which the early Christians suffered mar- 
tyrdom in the reign of Nero. I visited the Holy 
Chapel, in which is the staircase said to be the same 
which Christ ascended when he was tried before 
Pontius Pilate. They are marble steps covered with 
wood (to secure their preservation), and no person is 
allowed to ascend or descend them except on bended 
knees. During my short stay there one Friday af- 
ternoon, the number of genuflexed pilgrims upon 
these steps was not less than fifty at the lowest cal- 
culation. 

Next to St. Peter's, the most imposing church edi- 
fice in Eome is St. Paul's, situated about two miles 
outside of the city, and halfway between the city and 
a place where it is said St. Paul was killed. This 
pile of marble of the rarest qualities has already cost 
an aggregate of some twenty million dollars, and is not 
finished yet. Its great beauty and richness is more 
apparent in the interior than its exterior would indi- 



THE POPE IN ST. PAUL'S. 321 

cate, which constitute its principal points of differ- 
ence from the cathedrals of Milan and Cologne. It 
is built on the pure Corinthian style of architecture, 
and presents a harmony of parts that gratifies the 
eye, and fills the soul with insatiate admiration. 
While I was strolling about in its interior, among its 
forest of columns, admiring its ceiling of incompar- 
able beauty, my attention was suddenly arrested by a 
great excitement among the numerous custodians and 
officials within and around the edifice. They were 
hastening hither and thither, calling to each other in 
Italian, which I did not understand, and apparently 
putting certain things in order for an unusual occa- 
sion. Then there was an influx of a stream of peo- 
ple, some thirty in number, which was followed by 
the tramp of horses outside, and the sound of a roll- 
ing carriage. Directly, several officers in cavalry uni- 
form entered, followed by two gentlemen attired in 
priestly robes, and then came his Holiness, Pius IX., 
the Pope of Pome, after whom followed a small 
number of other officers and priests. Then nearly 
everybody in the church fell upon their knees, while 
he passed them, bestowing his blessing alike upon all, 
and entered one of the side chapels, where, kneeling 
before an altar, he engaged in prayer for about ten 
minutes, then returned into and walked around the 
body of the church, examining some new paintings 
that had been recently finished. During this prome- 
nade he was followed about by the people, who had 
by this time increased to a large number, and whose 
imploring looks he occasioDally rewarded with his 
blessing and a slight inclination of the head. When- 
21 



322 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ever he stood still a moment they would crowd for- 
ward, and, the ladies especially, frequently fell upon 
their knees before him, and endeavored to kiss his 
feet. He was attired in a white merino robe, closed 
nearly to the throat, and over this he wore a cape of 
the same material, that just covered his shoulders. 
His waist was girdled by a white satin belt ; his head 
covered by a small white cap, that was hardly dis- 
tinguishable from his smooth gray hairs ; his feet 
were encased in red morocco shoes, over the instep 
of which was a gilt cross. 

He left the church, entered a handsomely gilt cha- 
riot, drawn by four magnificent black horses, and 
was soon on his way back to the city, followed by a 
mounted guard of gayly decorated soldiers. He has 
an extremely fresh and vigorous appearance for his 
age, and his face wears a cheerful and benevolent 
aspect. He is, I am told, kind-hearted and generous, 
and the people are devotedly attached to him. 



LETTER XXII. 

THE APPIAN WAY.— THE CAR AG ALL BATHS.— THE CATA- 
COMBS.— CIRCUS MAXENTIUS.— CHOLERA.— THE DIET OF 
THE ROMANS.— VISIT TO THE POPE'S RESIDENCE.— THE 
PANTHEON— RAPHAEL.— ADIEU TO ROME.— EN ROUTE TO 
PARIS.— OVER THE MT. CENIS PASS. 

Rome, September, 1867. 

ONE of the most replete associations with Roman 
historic memoranda is afforded by a drive along 
the AppianWay; and the first object that arrests 
the attention, outside of the present city limits, is the 
fragmentary remnant of the palace of Caesar. Sombre 
and desolate, its broken arches and spectral corridors 
excite a feeling of awe ; and, although owls build 
nests in the angles and niches of its crumbling walls, 
and no sign of magnificence clusters around the im- 
perial pile of rubbish, there is still presented in the 
colossal proportions of the ruin, an evidence of its 
former grandeur. 

After this, the next subject to explore is that which 
once constituted the celebrated Caracall Baths — for 
the Romans were as ablutionary then as they are ab- 
solutionary now ; — in other words, they have turned 
their attention from physical to spiritual cleanliness ; 
and while the latter habit is a very good one, it is 
greatly to be regretted that they have adopted it at 
such a large expense of the former. This relic of the 

(323) 



324 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

Roman baths is, next to the Coliseum, the largest ruin 
of the ancient city. It is entirely roofless, and many 
of its compartments have been filled up by the mate- 
rial of the walls and ceilings that have tumbled down, 
to the height of ten feet and more. Some of its 
chambers, however, are still quite recognizable, even 
to the handsome mosaic floors, inlaid with small 
square stones of different kinds and colors. From 
the vast debris hereabouts have been dug, at various 
times until quite recently, many of the finest statuary 
and other relics that adorn the museums of the 
Lateran, the Capitol, and the Vatican. Even now 
men are still digging as ardently as Colorado gold- 
searchers, and ponderous pieces of corniced marble, 
with headless trunks of gods and demigods, may be 
seen protruding half-way from the rubbish ; whilst 
here and there are strewn about all manner of heads 
that are difficult to define, whether they belonged to 
Jupiters or Centaurs. 

We next came to an old and shabby -looking house, 
which is built, however, over a subterranean vault 
that constitutes the tomb of Scipio. There can be no 
doubt of it ; for the names of numerous members of 
the family are engraved upon respective tablets, whose 
originality and genuineness are not disputed, and in- 
spire confidence with reference to the record of the 
great warrior. It is not a tomb like that of Xapoleon 
in the Invalides ; yet the dust which it encloses was 
once as quick and fiery and warlike as that of the 
great Predestinarian. From this place it is not a 
great way to the church of St. Sebastian, under which 
is one of the entrances to the famous labyrinth of 



THE CATACOMBS. 325 

Catacombs. These subterranean passages, with longi- 
tudinal niches in the sides, where the mortal remains 
of the first Christians were shelved away by thou- 
sands, are so long and serpentine in their course, that 
they encircle and bisect the city in various directions, 
and may be followed for miles to terminate at length 
in an outlet upon the sea. Occasionally these pas- 
sages widen into chamber-like spaces, where the per- 
secuted flock who worshipped the true and living 
God, held their timid gatherings for prayer and com- 
munion, far from the knowledge and observation of 
their Pagan enemies. Yet even here they were some- 
times followed and massacred in great numbers. 
Guided by a monk, each of us holding a lighted 
candle, I wandered about in these dark, chilly, and 
awe-inspiring excavations upward of half an hour, 
and felt all the solemnity of groping through the 
narrow streets of a city of the dead — even such 
whose resurrection has already transpired, and whose 
empty dwelling-places returned the sound of human 
voice, as one might expect in the fearful silence of 
chaos. With something of constraint in respiration 
and all the functions of vitality, I emerged from this 
dread region, thankful to behold God's heavenly light 
and breathe earth's balmy atmosphere once more. 

How different is the place where next we pause ! 
It is the Circns Maxentius, that was built in the 
early part of the Christian era, is nearly fifteen hun- 
dred feet long, and over two hundred wide. Its 
walls are still in a pretty well-preserved condition ; 
and at the end nearest the Via Appia are two round 
towers, the lower portion of which constituted the 



326 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

compartments of the slaves ; whilst the top was for 
the trumpeters who sounded the charge for the 
charioteers who engaged in the races. The long 
parallelogram of walls is still very high ; and the 
several galleries of its interior must have afforded 
capacity for a concourse of many thousand spectators. 
From here this " Queen of Roads," as it is called, 
is bordered on both sides with many antiquated 
tombs as far as Albano, some six or eight miles dis- 
tant from Rome. 

On my way back, as I was approaching the suburbs 
of the city, a poor victim of the cholera, enclosed in 
a plain, unpainted coffin, was carried by four un- 
couth, hard-featured men in shirt-sleeves, to his last 
home. Kot that it makes much difference to one's 
body after death how it is disposed of; but this 
looked rather unceremonious, I must confess ; — and, 
if it was a man that was thus carried away, I could 
not help hoping that he had no wife and children in 
America. My panic-stricken guide almost fainted 
with terror, and snuffed at his camphor-bottle with 
a vehemence that was ridiculous to behold. These 
Romans are very timid. One would scarcely suppose 
that they are the people whose ancestors used to 
throw themselves upon their swords at the slightest 
misfortune — or run one another through at the least 
provocation. Come to think, however, their feeling 
of self-preservation always over-balanced that of for- 
bearance in sacrificing each other ; and I believe that 
•the Brutuses, Virginiuses, and Horatiis have not all 
jdied out — there being plenty who would probably 
Immolate a sovereign, a daughter, or a sister, to ap- 



THE CHOLERA. 327 

pease the cholera ; but would save their own lives if 
any amount of camphor on earth could do it. 

The truth is, these people help to superinduce the 
prevalence of cholera by their excessive fear of it. 
Besides which, the great majority of them live 
squalid, in illy ventilated houses, and upon a diet 
almost exclusively vegetable. But, worst of all, their 
bodies are subjected to excessive carbonization by 
being over-taxed with labor under the noonday sun. 
It is among these, of the lower, and among the in- 
temperate of the richer classes, that the cholera finds 
its victims. The decomposition of vegetable matter 
on low and marshy surfaces, and the prevalence of 
the Sirocco winds may (Jo their share toward en- 
gendering cholera ; but I am satisfied that every 
human being who gets it, contains within himself a 
morbid susceptibility, occasioned by a low state of the 
nerve forces ; or by an irrational want of attention to 
hygienic laws. I have found, too, that cases are pro- 
nounced to be cholera that are not, in fact, anything 
of the kind. This dread malady has to father all 
sudden attacks of illness or death, though they may 
be occasioned by violent engorgements of any of the 
important organs. In hot seasons and climates, dis- 
eases of all kinds are generally more severe in their 
attacks, and more rapid in their progress than in the 
reverse circumstances. I visited, one day, the hospital 
that is exclusively appropriated for cholera patients 
at Rome, and saw several cases that I had no doubt 
were but violent congestions of the liver. To be sure, 
to die from the one is just as disagreeable as from the 
other ; but then, the indiscriminate crowding of all 



328 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

manner of deaths under the black shadow of one 
tyrannical cause, is calculated to spread terror among 
the ignorant ; and none other than evil consequences 
can result from it. TVhen I returned to my hotel 
from the hospital, as above related, the landlord — 
who had already been informed of my heinous offence 
— ordered me out of the house, with permission to 
return only after I should have fumigated myself 
thoroughly with chlorine. So I went to a place 
where clouds of this vapor were curling upward from 
a vessel, and had myself done brown. After which, 
like a naughty boy who has just been spanked, I 
trotted, wiping my eyes, into my room. Ah, me ! I 
have read Ik Marvel's delightful nonsense about a 
beautiful black-eyed Italian girl, inspired by the 
dying embers of a wood fire, or the spiral wreaths of 
smoke from his cigar. But, let him stand over a pot 
of this incense for fifteen minutes, until he can scarcely 
identify himself from a big chunk of cured — not 
sugar-cured — Cincinnati bacon, and then write about 
his u angelic creature," if he can — I defy him. 

Allusion has been made to the diet of the people 
hereabouts ; and I desire not to leave that statement 
imperfectly expressed, by omitting to say that the 
national regimen (though not entirely to the exclu- 
sion of other things) is composed largely of maca- 
roni and onions. For the latter, some people substi- 
tute garlic, because, they say, there is no taste in an 
onion. I went with my guide into a restaurant fre- 
quented by the masses, and told him to order me a real 
Roman dinner ; for I make it a point to find out the dif- 
ferent tastes of people as I travel. What my dinner was 



M. A. F. HAS A VISION. 329 

composed of I have not the eloquence to describe ; 
but during the disturbed sleep of the night that fol- 
lowed it, I had a vision — lo, an apotheosis! My 
American friend was ascending heavenward, wrapt 
in the drapery of an aromatic cloud. With him was 
an Italian poetess — - a Signorita Piccolonioni. Above 
the twain, suspended by a golden thread from the 
index-finger of an angel, dangled, in provoking oscil- 
lations, a savory esculent, yclept an onion. With 
outstretched arms and tearful eyes they struggled, 
the one to get, the other not to get, the pungent bulb. 
'Twas not the first lachrymose effusion at the sight 
of such an object. Suddenly, the golden thread sepa- 
rated ; the angel dissolved, like a lump of sugar in a 
cup of hot tea ; and the vegetable disappeared behind 
the larynx of the Italian songstress. The same vision 
— tableau number two: an Arcadian bower, festooned 
with pendent vines, loaded with a luxurious multi- 
tude of Isabella grapes. Within, in meally ripeness, 
under the softening rays of the silver moon, sat my 
American friend by the side of the poetic Italienne. 
He had evidently become reconciled to her mode of 
living, and was breathing an atmosphere of pure de- 
light. Many pleasant things had he, doubtless, said 
to her ; for she answered him a la Pauline : " As the 
humming-bird banquets upon the sugary petals of 
buckwheat-blossoms and honeysuckles, even so do I, 
oh, my Columbian orator, drink in the sweet liba- 
tions of your flattering phrases." 

It was daybreak ; and I awoke with a thick film 
upon my eyes, and an atmosphere in the room that 
you might have colored Easter eggs with. Relating 



330 • ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the curious dream to my American friend, lie re- 
plied : "Believe me, there is much poetry and inspi- 
ration in an Italian bill of fare. This is the land, 
my dear fellow, the glorious land, where you may 
' find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
sermons in stones, and' onions everywhere." 

It would not do to leave Rome without paying a 
visit to the Pope's residence, for one is naturally 
curious to know how his Holiness fares in this " val- 
ley of tears," and whether he ekes out a miserable 
existence by " the sweat of his brow," or graciously 
leaves it to other people who are willing and thank- 
ful to sweat for him. I therefore wended my ways 
to the Quirinal Palace, and was permitted to pass 
through all of its gorgeous apartments, bedroom, 
dining-room, throne-room, audience and ante-cham- 
bers, galleries and libraries, all of which were fur- 
nished in the most elegant and elaborate style. 
Among the rest there is a billiard-room ; and on the 
ceiling, directly over the table, is one of the finest 
paintings I have ever seen, representing Julius Caesar 
dictating in four different languages to as many 
amanuenses, one of them being a female. His Holi- 
ness, it is said, is very fond of playing billiards, and 
is quite an adept in that exciting game of angu- 
larities. 

Of all the architectural relics of ancient origin, 
that which still exists in its entirety, and in a com- 
paratively good state of preservation, is the Pan- 
theon, though many of the original statues and 
architectural embellishments, that, under the vicissi- 
tudes of time and dynasties, were obliterated or trans- 



THE PANTHEON. 331 

ported, have been replaced by the less classic produc- 
tions of modern times. Yet the rotunda, unparalleled 
in point of capacity, with its mighty colonnade, pre- 
sents to the beholder an example of man's constructive 
genius that overwhelms him with awe and admira- 
tion. Under one of the altars is the grave of Raphael, 
with the inscription on a tablet : " Born 6th April, 
1483. Died 6th April, 1520," and on the wall, over 
the head of the grave, the epigrammatic lines by 
Cardinal Bembo : — 

1 ' Ille hie est Raphael, timuit quo suspite vinci 
Rerum magna parens, et moriente mori." 

I had just seen his sublime painting of the Trans- 
figuration, that is preserved in the gallery of the 
Vatican ; and could not help thinking that the 
homage which many generations of men have already 
bestowed upon his exalted genius, and the high and 
honored distinction which his mortal remains have 
received, in being enshrined in this illustrious monu- 
ment, have been all, and perhaps more, than his most 
ambitious fancies could have dared to prophesy. 
Yet they were well deserved ; for never was human 
intellect more godlike in its creative glory, than was 
that of Raphael ; and his productions as far tran- 
scend all others in their almost living perfection, as 
the bright light of a noonday sun transcends the pale 
and sickly lustre of the moon. 

The time has come to leave Rome, and begin the 
backward journey, which, God willing, will terminate 
at home. Again, I inquired whether it was not pos- 
sible to sail from Civita Vecchia to Leghorn, or Genoa, 



332 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

or Marseilles, without being subjected to the un- 
pleasant constraints of quarantine. I was told that 
it was not. I would be obliged to abide in the Laza- 
retto at least four days at either of those places. So 
no alternative was left but to proceed again by rail- 
road to Leghorn, along the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean ; thence to Bologna, &c. As we passed through 
the portals of the city, my American friend moistened 
the corner of his handkerchief with a tear that had 
been trembling on his eyelashes, and expressed his 
adieus in the following pathetic terms: — "Good-bye, 
Rome! You are an old town, and pretty badly 
wrinkled ; but then you have nursed some ugly fel- 
lows in your time, and I am not surprised at your 
deep-drawn furrows and marks of desolation. I have 
much respect for your venerable age, but cannot say 
that I am filled with grief at leaving you, though 
your severe temperament, and quiet sombre aspect, 
would make you almost as desirable to dwell in as 
good old Orwigsburg. You have survived the ravages 
of time and adversity so reasonably well in the past, 
that I feel confident you will still be able to take care 
of yourself without my aid in the future. Preserve 
yourself well, old Town ; for to get up another like 
you would involve the expenditure of more time, and 
money, and ingenuity, than the world can aflbrd just 
now. You are like a photographer's negative, and 
many impressions have been taken from you ; but if 
an earthquake or some similar accident should befall 
you, — though it is hard to say what a similar acci- 
dent would be, — you would be ruined worse than you 
are now, and could never be reproduced. Therefore, 



EN ROUTE FOR PARIS. 333 

take care of yourself, old Negative, and beware of the 
earthquakes and Garibaldis ! Take care of your 
seven hills ; of your Tiber River and many fountains ; 
of your big church, your Pantheon and Coliseum ; of 
your Vestal and other temples ■ — your Trajan and 
other forums — your Tarpeian and other rocks ; and 
oh, take care of the numerous relics of your Pagan 
ninnies. It is not very likely that we will ever meet 
again, old Town ; but cheer up ! there will be many 
an other stripling of the future, quite as zealous to 
spend his money and open his verdant eyes to have a 
look at you. And when the oblivious shades shall 
hide me from the memory of man, the prestige of 
your antiquity will still rejuvenate itself with every 
year in universal greenness for all time to come. Old 
Town, farewell." * * * * 

Paris, September, 1867. 
As before mentioned, I was obliged to return to 
Paris by railway ; and the route that I took was re- 
plete with interest and novelty to such a degree, that 
I do not now regret the necessity that spoiled my 
previous plans. From Florence to Bologna the road 
passed over and through the Apennine mountains, the 
grade most of the way being about one in thirty; 
and although the distance is not greater than that 
from Pottsville to Philadelphia, the road passes 
through forty-seven tunnels, scarcely any of which is 
shorter than the one at Port Clinton, on the Phila- 
delphia and Reading road. Near the top of the road 
are several viaducts, spanning deep and wide gorges. 
From these the beautiful plains of Tuscany, with 



334 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Florence in the distance, and Pistoja with innumer- 
able surrounding villages, all garlanded with vines, 
olives, mulberries, and magnolias in the near ground, 
form a prospect of the rarest and most exceeding 
loveliness. From Bologna I passed through a long 
section of the district of Lombardy, and arrived at 
Turin near midnight, where I remained until mid- 
night of the following day. 

Turin is a large city, having over two hundred 
thousand inhabitants, and is decidedly the most 
modernized, in point of architectural appearances, of 
all the cities in Italy. It has scarcely any traces of 
an old-fashioned character, its streets being laid out 
in such precise rectangular directions, and its houses 
having such a bran-new appearance, surrounding in 
several places such handsome public squares, that the 
first sight of the place occasions an agreeable surprise. 

From Turin to Susa is but an hour's ride by rail- 
road ; and here begins the ascent over the Mt. Cenis 
Pass over the Alps. There were in all, when I passed 
over, seven diligences full of passengers, each con- 
taining about fourteen persons, and was drawn by 
two horses and ten mules. I took a seat in what is 
called the " imperial," right back of the driver, where 
a body has the best chance for breathing fresh air 
and viewing the scenery. Every team of horses and 
mules had six drivers — making twenty-one in the 
whole cavalcade ; and it was amusing to hear these 
screaming at the poor animals, and calling them all 
by some name or other of the heathen gods ; the 
Plutos and Cerberuses being the greatest in number ; 
though occasionally they would yell out Juno and 



OVER MOUNT CENIS. 335 

Minerva, that would make the echoes ring among 
the crags of those snow-capped mountains. Running 
parallel nearly all the way with the stage-road, a 
railroad has been constructed ; the engineers of which, 
I believe, are Americans. This railroad has a third 
rail in the middle of the track, which is clasped 
between two lateral wheels of the engine, that only 
roll in a forward, but not in a backward, motion. 
These wheels, by an easy controllable mechanism, can 
be made to clutch the rail so tightly that the impetus 
of the car's motion can be spragged off at will. I 
could not have an opportunity to observe their exact 
construction, but am told that it is very ingenious — 
and the running of these cars is going to be quite 
safe. Successful trial-trips have already been made, 
though in some places the road is, I really believe, 
almost as steep as that famous road which ascends 
Mount Pisgah, near Mauch Chunk, in Pennsylvania. 
Yet this railway is only to be a temporary one, until 
the great tunnel shall be completed. The speed at 
which they propose running over this track is twelve 
miles an hour, which will be a great improvement 
on the old mode of stage-coach travelling. The 
openings of the tunnel I have seen. This herculean 
undertaking was begun some twenty years ago, and 
will take five years more to complete it. It is esti- 
mated that, when finished, a railroad train will re- 
quire half an hour's time to traverse it. 

At St. Michel, on the Savoy side of the mountain, 
the passengers, myself among the rest, who had been 
pretty thoroughly shaken by our ten hours' ride in 
the diligences, entered a train of cars that were in 



336 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

waiting, and left about an hour after our arrival, the 
most of us for Paris. Presently the night closed over 
us, and the pearly jewelry of heaven sparkled in the 
deep-blue firmament, while the monotonous warblings 
of the katydids was heard above the puffing of our 
express engine, as we rushed and rumbled rapidly 
along over the curiously named "sleepers." There 
were some sleepers inside the cars, too ; and as they 
generally subsided and collapsed into a state of som- 
nolence, they afforded an interesting study to the 
anatomical mind, as to the various shapes, positions, 
and attitudes that the human figure is capable of 
assuming. Then turning our attention again from 
these upon the outside world, and the lovely constel- 
lation overhead, it was pleasant to see that we were 
moving regularly in the direction of the Dipper and 
North Star; for — it was a little warm down there 
in Rome, after all. 



LETTER XXIII. 

DEATH OF PROFESSOR WATTS. — DOCTORS TROUSSEAU, 
VELPEAU, AND NELATON. — A SPELL OF SICKNESS.— THE 
FASHIONS OF PARIS.— THE OPERA SEASON — A MUSICAL 
ANECDOTE. — AMERICAN FRIEND IN TROUBLE. 

Paris, Sept mb r, 1867. 

A SHORT time ago I had the sad privilege of at- 
tending the funeral service of Professor Robert 
Watts, of New York. He had been declining for 
many years with pulmonary consumption, and had 
come to Europe, in company with some of his friends, 
with a last, desperate hope of recruiting his health 
somewhat thereby ; but shortly after his arrival in 
Paris he died. To me this circumstance was pecu- 
liarly impressive ; for he was one of the members of 
my Alma Mater ; and when, fifteen years ago, I was 
listening to his able lectures on anatomy, in the Col- 
leg4 of Physicians and Surgeons of Xew York, how 
little did I anticipate one day to assist at his obse- 
quies, and that, too, in the city of Paris ! Two of his 
associate professors, Doctors Dalton and Sands, were 
here, as also Professor Pancoast of Philadelphia, and 
quite a number of other American physicians. It 
was a solemn service indeed to those who understood 
its import ; for there was a gathering of gentlemen 
in a foreign land, wishing, as it were, the soul of their 
brother and countryman God speed to that " bourne 
whence no traveller returns;" and though all the 

22 (337) 



338 ACE OSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

members of the family of the departed spirit were 
not present, yet the bowed heads and moistened eyes 
of all these sympathizing friends bespoke a mourning 
that was not of the surface only. The mortal re- 
mains of the deceased are to be conveyed, I am told, 
at an early day, by steamer, to America. 

Since my departure from Paris in May last, death 
has also stricken the two great luminaries of the 
medical and surgical professions of this city, in the 
persons of Doctors Trousseau and Velpeau. The lat- 
ter, though over fourscore years of age, had worked 
in his profession, and given counsel to the sick of the 
hospitals almost to the day of his death. But a few 
months ago I listened to his clinical discourse, and 
saw him execute an operation of the most delicate 
description on an affected eye. He was entirely a 
self-made man ; and his success in life affords a graphic 
illustration of the results that may be expected from 
industry and perseverance when combined with tal- 
ent. His education in youth simply amounted to 
this, that he was taught to read, and coming across 
an old doctor-book one day, which belonged to his 
father, who was a blacksmith in a country village, he 
read and re-read it until he almost knew its entire 
contents by memory. Then he commenced doctoring 
horses ; and being successful, his opinions were soon 
consulted at the bedside of his suffering fellow-beings 

O CD 

— and this was the beginning of his medical career. 
On one occasion, especially, the prompt though heroic 
exercise of a good sound judgment brought him 
under the notice of a celebrated physician, who 
thereupon took an interest in him, seeing the natural 



DR. NELATON. 339 

bent of his genius, and pointed out to him the possi- 
bility of acquiring a proper medical education. And 
now, being put upon the right track, and taught how 
tc proceed, he applied himself day and night to study. 
Such diligence and persistency had never been sur- 
passed. He lived and slept in the hospitals, and grew 
in knowledge and capabilities until, eventually, he 
attained and held, during many years, an eminence 
in his profession second to no other man's in France. 

The great remaining light in the medical world of 
Paris now is Dr. ]S T elaton, who achieved such great 
renown a few years ago by curing Garibaldi ; and 
since, recently, the Prince Imperial recovered from 
hip-disease under his treatment, honors and wealth 
have been lavished upon him so profusely that he 
has grown too independent to continue his duties in 
the hospitals and lecture-room. Instances of this 
kind are very rare ; but I should judge from it, that 
doctors ought not to be paid too well — as they are 
apt to become spoiled by it. 

I managed to become the victim of a right smart 
spell of sickness myself since my return to Paris ; nor 
would I mention the circumstance, but that it brought 
me in communication with one of the medical institu- 
tions of this city in quite a different relation from any 
that I expected, or — I may modestly add — desired. 
My progress from Rome hither had been too uninter- 
ruptedly fatiguing ; and it was not long before a con- 
gestion of the liver manifested itself, followed by a 
kind of break-bone fever. Finding I was going to 
be sick pretty seriously, I had myself conveyed to a 
sanitary establishment, called Maison de Sante, which 



340 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

should combine the comforts of a hotel with all the 
advantages and -appurtenances of a hospital. Mind, 
I say, it should have these advantages ; but let it not 
for a moment be understood that it has them. In the 
first place, the charge is eight francs, or a dollar and 
sixty cents, a day ; for which amount one can obtam 
excellent pension or boarding almost everywhere, but 
here the sanitary character of the institution enables 
them to keep the boarders down to the very minimum 
of low diet. In the administration of medicines they 
are Allopathic, but in the matter of food the doses 
are exceedingly Homoeopathic. The medicaments 
employed are generally of the cheap kind, as salts, 
castor-oil, ipecac, and all other things that keep a 
tight rein on the appetite ; but at one time the doc- 
tor was seized with the extravagant idea of prescrib- 
ing quinine for me. To this, however, I objected, 
appealing to his forbearance with all the pathos in 
my nature. " It really is n't worth while wasting 
such valuable medicine on my case," said I. " It is 
certainly go 1, excellent, very excellent — to sell, but 
hardly good enough to take. Oblige me by keeping 
it in your bottle ; it will look so much nicer than in 
my stomach. Place it upon the shelf there, and let 
me gaze upon its snowy flakes — perhaps that will 
answer the purpose just as well. But oh, don't make 
matters worse by mixing it with the gall and bitter- 
ness of my existence ! Let us trust to the * Vis Med- 
icatrix naturae, 3 and you will soon see how well- 
founded will be our faith." Well, we trusted, and I 
recovered, after the expense of an extravagant amount 
of patience on my part, seasoned well with the yellow 



THE FASHIONS OF PARIS. 341 

lucre that contains the impression of his Imperial 
Majesty's likeness ; for the officials of the Maison tie 
Sante were not above bribery, and every crumb of the 
staff of life was almost worth its weight in silver. 

Now, I suppose there are those among my readers, 
and the most amiable portion too, who would be 
right glad to know all about the fashions of Paris. 
Well, I will do what I can toward conveying an 
idea, with the premonitory caution, however, that all 
expectations must be limited ; for my talent does not 
run in that direction. In the first place, Crinoline — 
that imperious and impudent fellow who has em- 
braced the whole female creation these many years — 
is really in the decline; and the figure of the preferred 
sex, that has been a problematical mystery all this 
while, is beginning to assume shadowy outlines and 
proportions not quite so funnel-shaped as of yore. 
It is remarkable how reluctantly this habit is relin- 
quished by the fair wearers. Like pretty house-birds, 
they have fluttered in their steel cages so long, that 
when they were opened, they have made little sorties 
into the outer world occasionally, but still to return 
to the accustomed restraint of these narrow domiciles 
in the end. At length, however, all affection for the 
cages seems to have waned away, and they are now 
hung aside upon the nails of attic joists, for the pecu- 
liar carnival of spiders and grand-daddy longlegs. 
The most positive proof that crinolines are among 
the things of the past is the fact, that they are not 
exposed for sale any longer — except in very out-of- 
the-way shops, frequented by the demi-monde; and 
there, I suspect, they are placed more for ornament (!) 
than with any hopes of selling them. 



342 ACBOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

As to colors, it would puzzle the most astute ob- 
server to decipher which is the most prevalent. A 
walk through the Boulevard des Italiens, or the 
Champs Ely sees, fairly bewilders a body with the mul- 
tiplicity of hues. One seems to be jostling one's way 
through a grand confusion of broken rainbows, that 
perch on the heads of ladies, encircle their necks, 
hang negligently over their shoulders, twine around 
their waists, and droop in dazzling folds over their 
entire persons. In the article of dresses, however, I 
have observed a distinction of shade, and that most 
rechercht at present is a kind of bright reddish-brown, 
— "chocolate color" is the name they give it here, — 
though in other countries it is known by the popular 
name of Bismarck. It is not that the greatest number 
wear this color, but certainly the grandest ladies do — 
those who drive out in splendid equipages, and live in 
magnificent residences, — points of observation not to be 
despised by a man who is trying to discover the fash- 
ions. The dresses are generally gored (I don't know 
whether I have spelled the word rightly — wonder if 
"Webster does ?) and short, which, in connection with 
the absence of crinoline, reduces the amount of mate- 
rial necessary to develop a "divine creature" to about 
half the quantity that was formerly used. "What 
shall I say about bonnets? JS"ot that there is any 
especial innovation upon the size and shape of those 
I have last seen in America — they could not well be 
smaller, that the dear knows ; and for their size they 
could not well have any different shape. What a 
variety there is in- the manner of trimming them I 
and, after all, in that lieth the secret of a " love of a 



TEE FASHIONS OF PARIS. 343 

bonnet." The proper arrangement and harmonious 
blending of materials and colors, so as to call forth 
the most charming effects, is the great art of this 
part of a lady's toilet. How frequently does a bonnet 
receive credit for setting off a head, when all the 
while it is the head that glorifies the bonnet. I have 
seen waving feathers, flowers, and ears of grain bend 
forward over a bewitching face like little Prome- 
theuses stealing fire from the light of pretty eyes ; 
but if the light of those pretty eyes did not exist, 
there would be no fire to steal. I cannot, of course, 
enter into a description of the different patterns of 
coats, sacks, sleeves, &c, but take it for granted that 
Mr. Godey has all these properly and brilliantly illus- 
trated and explained in his Lady's Book. Or if he 
has basely and maliciously failed in giving the latest 
and most stylish cuts, then I am sure that Madam 
Demorest has not ; and you need only refer to these 
works upon the fashions in order to be perfectly au 
fait, just as you would look up the definition of a 
word in the latest dictionary. Cashmere shawls, 
Alencon and Brussels point laces, diamonds, and 
Neapolitan corals are the great accessories that make 
up the attractiveness of a Parisian belle ; the coral 
especially is very extensively worn, and as to the 
point d' Alencon, the high price to which this lace 
with invisible seams ranges, point out at once the dis- 
tingue and wealthy character of the happy creatures 
who are privileged to wear it. A robe of this lace at 
the Paris Exposition was valued at the enormous 
sum of forty thousand dollars in gold. 

As a curious fact I may state, that the latest style 



344 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, 

of jewelry of every descriptioD is id the shape of a 
horse-shoe; thus you have little gold horse-shoes 
hanging from Ladies' ears, uniting the collars around 

their throats, embellishing their wrists and lingers, 
and clasping the holts around their waists. They are 
ugly-looking things, — the trinkets, not the ladies, — 
and I cannot conceive by what eccentricity of fashion 

they ever came in vogue. 

It is presumable from one's every-day observation, 
that every Lady of distinction considers it an impera- 
tive necessity to take a little dog along with her 
whithersoever she goes, hut especially when out walk- 
ing ot' an afternoon. These precious nets are gener- 
ally led (when not carried like infants in arms) by 
pink ribbons, and sometimes they are so numerous 
that they become a great annoyance to other people. 
The other day L inadvertently stepped upon the 
tail of one: and it was not so much the yelping o^ 
the little our, as the horrified look of his proprietress, 
that made me feel as if I had committed a murder. 
She picked him up soothingly, and pressed him like 
a baby to her breast, where, apparently conscious of 
the warm maidenly sympathy he excited, the snarling 
brute whined and rolled his watery eyes about, and 
looked for all the world as sick as any canine sick- 
ness possihly could be. I offered to take his fair mis- 
tress to the dog-market, to buy her another; hut she 
passed on with a scowl that L hope never to see dupli- 
cated on any female countenance again — or I shall 
certainly go crazy with remorse. 

The opera season has now fairly commenced, and 
M'lle Adelina Patti Avas rapturously received ou 



OPERA INCIDENTS. 845 

her rentree at the Italiens. She played Annua in La 
Somnambula; and divinely did she sing, charmingly 
did she act. If the choicest bouquets thai the flow- 
er-market of the Madeleine can produce can attest 
how much la diva is admired, then could there be no 
douht of it. Whether it be that her voice has gained 
in mellowness and sonorousness by repose since last 
spring, or whether it be that absence makes the heart 
grow fonder, certain it is that the audience was enrap- 
tured with her. 

It is interesting to stroll through the lobbies and 
saloons during the intervals of the play, and study 
the people and dresses that there exhibit themselves ; 
for people visit the opera in their most gorgeous array, 
whilst hardly any attention to dress is paid at the 
theatres. There is a curious little old lady here, who, 
I am told, visits the opera night after night from the 
beginning of the season to the end. She is taciturn 
and reserved, but two or three times during the pro- 
of the piece, she has a cafe noir brought to her 
which she sips at leisure. At the termination of the 
performance, a footman in livery receives her at the 
door of her box, and takes her off — nobody knows 
where, and nobody knows who si. 

In brilliant contrast to this may be cited the in- 
stance of a xcry beautiful girl, radiant with youth 
and health, who is also here a nightly visitor with 
her " protector." She electrifies the lobbyites every 
evening with a new and gorgeous toilette. When I 
saw her she was attired in Bismarck satin inlaid with 
maize lozenge.-, and a splendid parure of coral set in 
dead gold. She appears passionately, feverishly fond 



346 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

of music, and seems scarcely to breathe during the 
performance ; but during the intervals she recovers 
herself with ices and other refreshments. "Whoever 
liquidates her financial obligations has, I should 
think, an expensive luxury on his hands, and must 
feel as if he had been presented with a white elephant 
or the Great Eastern. 

I saw a little musical anecdote in one of the French 
papers the other day, worthy of being repeated here. 
The dramatis persona of the story are Meyerbeer, 
Jenny Lind, and Viardot. Meyerbeer had been asked, 
whom he considered the most accomplished vocalist 
of the day ; to which he replied : " When perfection 
of vocal facility has been attained by any two artists, 
it is very difficult to judge between them." Then 
he mentioned, that at one of the concerts he con- 
ducted, Lind and Viardot were to sing together his 
duet of " La Mere Grande." At the rehearsal, no- 
thing was said about a cadenza, and none was tried. 
During the evening, he asked the ladies what they 
intended doing ; and they replied, that they had not 
determined. The moment arrived for the duet to be 
performed, and they had evidently settled nothing. 
It was sung, however, with immense effect, being 
constantly interrupted by applause. At the pause 
for the cadenza, Meyerbeer raised his baton, and 
waited to hear what the fair vocalists would do. 
Viardot led off with a series of the most elaborate 
runs and Jioriture - her cadenza was a composition of 
itself. When she had concluded, to the amazement 
of Meyerbeer, Lind repeated every note of the entire 
cadenza that Viardot had sung, without a fault or 
the slightest hesitation. " This, to my mind," added 



M. A. F. IN TROVBLE. 347 

the great composer, " was a most remarkable instance 
of the complete perfection of vocal facility which 
both of these singers have attained." 

My American friend is in trouble. He has just 
been the recipient of a budget of letters from home, 
the writers of which, knowing that he is about to 
return to his native shores, all desire him to " do a 
small favor" for them; and "won't you be kind 
enough to bring" this, that, and the other "little 
matter" "along for me?" is the burden of their 
writing. One requests a set of jewelry, another a 
velvet coat, another a silk dress, another a lot of 
books, catalogues of the Exposition, and flute dia- 
grams ; another, some yarn of a certain kind ; an- 
other, English lace for dress trimming ; quite a num- 
ber want meerschaum pipes ; and one, a Newfound- 
land dog! "Now," said M. A. F., apparently greatly 
perplexed, "how am I to smuggle all these things 
in ? for my correspondents seem to be unanimous in 
the opinion that I am not above smuggling. Just 
imagine an interview with the New York Custom 
Officer something as follows : 

Officer, with the open trunk before him, "Well, 
sir, what does a gentleman want with a lady's velvet 
coat in his trunk ? " 

" Why, Mr. Officer, that is my robe de chambre, the 
latest style worn in Paris." 

" But how about all this silk, eh ? " 

" Why, that is a handkerchief, sir." 

" What ! nonsense, a handkerchief fifteen yards 
long!" 

" Yes, sir, I always use a handkerchief very long 
— especially when I have a cold ; besides, I ani very 



348 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

sensitive to the changes in the weather, and some- 
times wrap this around me like a Scotch Highlander 
does his scarf, to keep me warm." 

" Humph ! " grunts the officer ; " hut how ahout this 
yarn?" 

" Why, the sailors spun it for me, sir." 

" Come now, you 're a rum one, ain't you, to think 
of coming such a fib over me — when did they do it ? 
tell me that." 

" Between watches, sir, and when they were not 
busy tattooing blue ships and anchors and sweet- 
hearts on each other's arms." 

" Tshaw ! who ever heard tell of such a thing 
before?" 

" AVhy, sir, permit me to say that you are sadly 
uninformed; if you will read Marry att and other 
nautical philosophers, you will find it there .recorded 
that sailors do spin yarn sometimes." 

"But," quoth the Officer, " what explanation have 
you for this black lace trimming?" 

" A very simple one, sir. You see I belong to the 
Order of the Knights of Babylon, and this trimming 
is a part of the regalia — every member being obliged 
to festoon himself with it from head to foot." 

" Indeed ! I never heard of that Order before." 

" Ah, sir, it is evident that }*ou never travelled in 
Europe, or you would know that the Babylonic 
knighthood there is a great institution." 
, The Officer scratches his head, as if in doubt what 
next to say or do, when he espies a lot of pipes' in 
the bottom of the trunk. " Oho ! what about these? " 
quoth he ? 

" These pipes? AVhy sir, I took them with me to 



M. A. f;s troubles. 349 

Europe for presents to my friends ; but finding that 
my numerous German friends all had meerschaum 
pipes, I brought these back with me again." 

" Well, what do you propose doing with this new 
gun ? " 

" That, sir, is for my own sporting purposes." 

" lias it ever been used ? " 

im Yes, sir ; I have been hunting with it." 

"Where?" 

" In the forest of Fontainebleau." 

" What was you hunting? " 

"Anything I could find in general, but principally, 
my way out of the woods." 

" How about this jewelry ? " 

"Oh, sir, that is all galvanized trash — I will sell 
it to you for half a dollar." 

" There," said my American friend, slapping me on 
the shoulder, as he closed up this long prospective 
dialogue with a custom-officer, " how do you think I 
will manage it, eh, my boy ? " 

I replied, that I thought he would do admirably ; 
but expressed myself a little shocked (for I was always 
a conscientious tariff man, and went in strong for 
protection to home industry) at the cool effrontery 
that he proposed to assume in this transaction be- 
tween himself and his country. 

" Why," said he, " don't you see that my friends 
all expect it of me? They make no conscientious 
scruples about the matter ; then why should I ? Do 
you think," he continued, after a thoughtful pause, 
" that I will have any difficulty in persuading the 
captain of the steamer to stop at the coast of New- 
foundland till I get that dog? " 



LETTER XXIV. 

THRILLING INCIDENT OF PARISIAN LIFE.— A Q UER Y.— ANEC- 
DOTE.— REMINISCENCES OF THE FIRST NAPOLEON- 
CEMETERY OF PERELA CHAISE.— MANUFACTORY OF THE 
GOBELIN TAPESTRY.— HOTEL DE VILLE.— JARDIN D'AC- 
CLIM AT ATION. — BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES THEREIN. 

Paris, October, 1867. 

HERE is one of the thrilling incidents of Parisian 
life. The other day a very young girl, with 
something in her arms that she carried with great 
care and tenderness, was gambolling merrily to and 
fro upon the Bridge of Jena ; when suddenly, by 
some unhappy inadvertency, she dropped her precious 
charge over the railing of the bridge, and it fell with 
a faint splash into the river Seine. " Oh, the baby ! 
the baby I " she screamed with wild and frantic 
bursts, " Oh, the dear baby ! will nobody save my 
baby?" Among the many pedestrians who were 
passing over the bridge at the time was my American 
friend — a young and noble-looking fellow ; heroism 
stamped upon every feature of his countenance ; firm- 
ness and intrepidity settled in every glance of his eye. 
Without a moment's hesitation — without divesting 
himself of a single article of clothing, he leaped into 
the river — which was quite deep at the place — and 
swam with herculean exertion after the lost object, 
that was bobbing up and down in the water. At 
length he approached it ; caught it tenderly around 

(350) 



PARIS— REFLECTIONS. 351 

the waist, and raised it in the air to discover that it 
was — a doll baby ! Pitching it back into the middle 
of the river, he made for the nearest shore ; shook 
himself like a poodle, pulled up his coat-collar, and 
his hat down over his eyes, then hurried away under 
the eaves of the houses to avoid being carried home 
on the shoulders of the admiring crowd. 

Indeed, I often wonder where the French novelists 
get the material for their books from — at least the 
tragic parts : they must have astonishing imagina- 
tions, for there appears nothing in real life to assist 
them ; or if there is, it is kept out of the newspapers 
with exceeding care. 

By means of the journals, during my travels on the 
continent, I have been more or less cognizant of the 
news of this city now for the past six months ; and, 
I believe, during all that time there has not been a 
single fire, murder, robbery, abduction, elopement, or 
any other interesting event to aiford characters that 
one might work into the chapters of a story — as 
they are worked into the tapestries at the Gobelins 
— with much twisting, and sorting, and tying of 
knots. To take the single matter of fires alone, and 
consider that in New York and Philadelphia hardly 
a night passes by without giving the gallant firemen 
an opportunity to rescue interesting maidens from 
the fourth-story windows of burning houses, whilst 
nothing of the kind is ever heard of here, though the 
city is larger than either of those just named, affords 
strange subject for surprise. Now, this thing is im- 
portant — the contrast is too great to be lightly passed 
over — let us reflect ! Can it be that there is no safety 



352 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

in a republican form of government ? Is it because 
men individually cannot generally govern themselves, 
that they cannot do so collectively? Does democracy 
promote murder, robbery, and arson? Is it hope- 
lessly identified with bribery and public plunder? 
If so, then let us get an emperor as soon as possible 
— perhaps Xapoleon can send us one like he did the 
Mexicans. In alluding to the almost total absence 
here of those criminal exploits that are so frequently 
woven into rhyme and romance, I had forgotten a 
half-military anecdote that is just now in circulation. 
It is this : General Cluseret, returning home late one 
evening, was attacked by an armed brigand. So 
that, after all, it would seem that such events do take 
place sometimes. The great strength of the General 
rendered him indifferent to any approach of the kind, 
however ; and he seized the ruffian by the throat and 
threatened to strangle him. On examining the cap- 
tive more closely, Cluseret recognized him as a per- 
sonage with whom he had already had dealings. 
"Why, you rascal, you are the same man who robbed 
my tent in Algeria of five hundred francs in gold ! " 

" Ah, General, but if you knew the circumstances. 
They had written to me from Europe that my poor 
mother was dangerously ill, and I wanted to send her 
some assistance. But I entreat you, General, have 
some pity on me ; give me my liberty this time, and 
I swear tcupass the rest of my life in repentance, after 
I shall have repaid you the sum I stole from you." 

The General granted the prayer, let the fellow go, 
and thought no more about the matter. A long time 
afterward he received a box containing five hundred 



PARIS— NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 353 

francs and the following letter: "This restitution, 
General, proves to you that a kind action is not 
always unappreciated, even by the poor outlawed 
brigand. To procure this sum, that I engaged my- 
self to return to you, I have been obliged to beat out 
the brains of two men ; to force three secretaries ; 
and commit burglary on three inhabited country- 
houses. You see, General, that a benefit is never 
thrown away." 

The other day I had curiosity enough to hunt up 
the different residences that the young Napoleon 
Bonaparte occupied, from his first arrival in Paris 
up to the 18th Brumaire, and the establishment of 
the Consular government. I had always been an 
ardent admirer of that great military hero and im- 
perial parvenu. Sir Walter Scott suffered greatly, in 
my estimation, for the prejudicial life that he wrote 
of this unequalled chief, that seemed an impossible 
act from, and could almost make me weep tears of 
penitence for, the author of the " Waverly Novels," 
"Marmion," and "The Lady of the Lake." Well 
do I remember when Abbott's " Life of Napoleon " 
first appeared in "Harper's Monthly Magazine;" 
how long, for a season, appeared to me the intervals 
between those periodicals ; and when they arrived, 
with how much ecstasy I pored over the partial, 
undoubtedly, yet perfectly just record of that wonder- 
ful life. This life passed again in panoramic review 
before my mind's eye, as the different homes of the 
great chieftain came before me, though some of 
them, and the neighborhoods wherein they are 
located, have, under the more peaceful reign of the 

23 



354 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

almost equally great nephew, undergone many 
changes. The first of these was the Ecole Militaire, 
where he was admitted from the military school of 
Brienne in October, 1784, and occupied a small room 
in the upper story of the establishment. Did he 
dream sometimes, while dwelling in these humble 
quarters, of the fame he was destined to acquire by 
the armies he would lead in battle ? of the mutations 
in the affairs of France that would dethrone and de- 
capitate the king whose loyal subject he professed to 
be, and make him — the occupant of that small 
chamber — the imperial sovereign of that blood- 
stained nation ? No, he did not ; for it was impos- 
sible that the wildest fancy should conjecture the 
events that could only bring about a change like 
that. He next lived in the house No. 5, Quai de 
Conti, in a small garret ; then in Hotel de Metz, rue 
du Mail, Bonaparte being then a captain of artil- 
lery, was ordered to Paris to answer for some strong 
political opinions he had expressed. He probably 
little thought then what a shape his opinions would 
take ere long, and how they would mould the des- 
tinies of kings and nations. In 1794, he lived in the 
Hotel des Droits de V Homme — he was then general 
of artillery. His friendship for Talma, which con- 
tinued unabated to his death, commenced in this 
house, to which the great actor resorted to give 
lessons in declamation to " la citoyenne Petit," after- 
ward Mme. Talma. Probably this was the most 
halcyon and undisturbed period of his life, when the 
quiet pursuit of pleasures arising from the associa- 
tions of friendship conveyed that serene repose to 



PARIS— NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 355 

which his speculative and ever restless mind was 
naturally a stranger. The next house he occupied 
was No. 19, Rue de la Michodiere ; here he was with- 
out employment, and in very straitened circum- 
stances. Was there no broker in all Paris that 
would advance a few thousand on the prospect of 
Napoleon's future ? Bah 1 brokers are as stupid as 
other people, and could not see the dead certainty 
that would repay them with interest never heard of 
in financial annals before. Then, when in disgrace, 
he removed to the Hotel Mirabeaa, where he occupied 
himself in visiting the members of the National Con- 
vention to solicit employment. In this hotel he slept 
on the eve of the 13th Vendemiaire, of that memora- 
ble day on which, having obtained the command of 
the troops through the favor of Barras, he defeated 
" the sections," and opened his way to the appoint- 
ment of " General-in-chief of the Army of Italy." It 
was here that his successes had their beginning ; and 
the star of his destiny, that had thus far but flickered 
coquettishly between light and darkness, darting forth 
occasionally a fitful flash, to be hidden again behind 
a great cloud of political obscurity, now burst forth 
in all the glory of its transcendent effulgence. He 
next occupied the Hotel de la Colonnade, where his 
marriage with Josephine was celebrated ; after which 
he removed to No. 60, Hue Chautereine. That mar- 
riage with Josephine ! had he but remained faithful 
to the sacred duty it imposed upon him, and clung, 
under all circumstances, to the chaste and amiable 
companion she had ever been to him, perhaps the 
morale thereof would have exerted a different in- 



356 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

fluence on nations and himself, and the fate that 
overclouded his latter days might have been averted. 
He now assumed command of the Army of Italy, and 
returned hither again the following year, 1797, in 
great pomp and triumph. Here he received his ap- 
pointment to the command of the expedition to 
Egypt ; and from this hotel emanated those intrigues 
which led to the 18th Brumaire and his dictatorship. 
The far-famed cemetery of P ere La Chaise, situated 
on the slope of a hill to the north-east of Paris, affords 
a large field for a day's ramble among the many great 
names of the past, that are tableted over the ashes 
that once answered to them, quick with all the pas- 
sions and agitations of life. Heroism, poetry, art, 
science, and genius of every description are repre- 
sented in this garden of death for many generations 
of the past. Let us step lightly over this consecrated 
soil ; for lo ! we are gazing on the shrine that con- 
tains the once loving hearts of the gentle Eloise and 
Abelard. How we reverence their immortal love! 
and how the beautiful lines come uppermost in our 
minds, — 

"Death, only death can break the lasting chain; 
And here, even then, shall my cold dust remain ; 
Here all its frailties, all its flames resign, 
And wait till 'tis no sin to mix with thine." 

Here lies the dust of the satirical Rabelais, and* of 
the exalted and classical Corneille and Racine ; and 
yonder, in the Jews' Quarter, that of their most faith- 
ful interpreter, the tragedienne Rachel. There, a 
little farther up the acclivity, repose, in close prox- 
imity, the genial Moliere and the fabulistic La 



THE GRAVE OF MARSHAL NET. 357 

Fontaine. How well and proper it is that their dust 
should lie so close together ; for, I am sure, their 
lucid spirits commingle happily in the other world. 
Here lies the lyrical poet Beranger, and Judith Frere, 
whom he immortalized in song under the name of 
Lizette. Here, too, reposes all that is left of Bellini, 
whose sweet, melodious music has charmed the world 
wherever it is known. " Hear me, Norma 1 "• with all 
its plaintive and fascinating eloquence, occurred to 
my soul as I stood over this grave ; and the air 
around me seemed to vibrate with the spiritual 
warblings of " La Sonnambula," and swell up at last 
into the grand and soul-stirring liberty duet of "I 
Puritani." The grave of the eminent surgeon Du- 
puytren has an honored place in this honorable 
midst, not far from that of Napoleon's great army 
surgeon, Baron Larrey. And here one may read in 
quick succession the illustrious names of those gallant 
heroes, Kellerman, Macdonald, Massena, Davoust, and 
many others. Of all the graves here situated, there 
was none the sight of which filled me with a sadder 
emotion than that of the ill-fated Marshal Ney. No 
monument or pompous inscription marks the spot 
where he lies ; but the ground is laid out as a small 
garden, and the iron railing that surrounds it is 
mantled with ivy. 

When, after the disastrous defeat at "Waterloo, Ney 
was captured in the house of his kinsman, near-Auril- 
lac, he might have escaped frem his captors by telling 
them a falsehood, or misdirecting them ; and even 
from the gensdarmes while they were refreshing them- 
selves at a roadside inn on their way to Paris ; but 



358 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

he was too proud that he should stoop so low to save 
a life that he had risked so often where glory led the 
way. And when, a short time afterward, he was led 
to the place of execution, he refused to he blindfolded, 
and said to the soldiers who were to shoot him: 
" Soldiers, I have confronted death on five hundred 
battle-fields — too often to be afraid of it now. Aim 
at my heart, that I may die without unnecessary 
pain." 

The number and costliness of the monuments of 
Pere La Chaise, and the illustrious names it contains, 
will doubtless save it from the fate with which the 
other cemeteries of Paris are menaced, in consequence 
of the extension of the capital to the fortifications. 
Some of the monuments, of large dimensions and 
elegant architecture, represent temples, sepulchral 
chapels, mausoleums, pyramids, and obelisks ; others 
cippi, altars, urns, &c. ; most of them are enclosed 
with iron railings, and adorned with flowers and 
shrubs ; and retired seats are provided for the com 
venience and accommodation of kindred and friends. 
A subterranean canal, which in olden time conveyed 
water to the Maison de Mont Louis, then situated 
here, still exists, and partly furnishes a supply to 
keep the plants and herbage in verdure. 

Allusion has been made in this letter to the Gobelin 
tapestry. Let us now make a brief visit to the es- 
tablishment where this tapestry and carpet are 
manufactured. The place and its artistical produc- 
tions derive their names from two brothers, Gobelins, 
who were very expert dyers of wo'ol in the fifteenth 
century. The establishment has been for many years, 



PARIS— THE GOBELINS. 359 

since the time of Louis XIV., owned and conducted 
by the government. Nothing is sold that is manu- 
factured here, but retained in the Imperial family. 
The carpets and tapestries are of the most elaborate 
character and of indescribable beauty — it being al- 
most impossible to distinguish them from the paint- 
ings of the ablest artists. Years of labor are some- 
times spent upon a single piece of this workmanship. 

The visitor will pass through five rooms, filled with 
rich specimens from the reigns of Francis I., Louis 
XIV., and Louis XV., besides many modern ex- 
amples. Among the latter are copies of the Emperor 
and Empress, from the full-length portraits by Win- 
terhalter, both executed in about four years ; another 
from the Transfiguration by Raphael, which took 
six years ; and of Juno, Ceres, and Venus, by the 
same master, which required four years to complete. 

Next follow the work-rooms, six in number, con- 
taining twenty-five looms, where the operatives may 
be seen at their employment. In the tapestry work, 
which is called tissu, the warp is placed vertically, and 
the Workman stands at the back of the canvas on 
which he is engaged, with the model behind him, to 
which he occasionally refers, in order to adjust the 
color of his woollen or silken thread to that part of 
the picture he is copying. The carpet work is called 
velours. Here the workman stands on the right side, 
with the model over his head. The carpets manu- 
factured here are considered far superior to the Per- 
sian, for the evenness of their surface, the firmness 
and the strength of their texture. The colors and 
designs are perfect. Some of them are as long as ten 



360 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

years in process of manufacture, and cost from sixty 
thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand francs; 
and even at these high prices the skilful workmen 
are very inadequately paid. Connected with the 
manufactory is an establishment for dyeing wool, 
directed by able chemists, where an infinite variety 
of shades, many unknown in the trade, are produced. 
The closeness with which the painter's art is here 
imitated, cannot but excite the visitor's astonishment 
and admiration. 

One of the most magnificent palaces of Paris, espe- 
cially in its interior, is the Hotel de Ville, or City 
Hall, which has either survived the ravages of re- 
volutionary spoliation remarkably well, or been most 
gorgeously renovated since. It is memorably asso- 
ciated with the war of the Fronde, and still more 
with the Revolution of 1789. It was from one of the 
windows of this building that the unfortunate Louis 
XYI. harangued the infuriated populace with the 
cap of liberty on his head ; and from the same 
window, the noble General Lafayette presented Louis 
Philippe to the people in 1830. In one of the rooms 
of this palace Robespierre held his council, and once 
attempted to destroy himself. From one of its stair- 
cases, Lamartine most bravely exposed his life in 1848, 
by declaring to the enraged mob that so long as he 
lived, the red flag should not be the flag of France. 
We will pass by the Throne Room, many grand 
saloons, courts, and state departments, and stop for a 
moment to admire the Grande Gallerie des Fetes, 
which is the saloon generally appropriated for occa- 
sions of great ceremonies, court balls, and receptions. 



PARIS— HOTEL BE YILLE. 361 

This hall is immense in proportions, and is separated 
from two others by two transverse arcades, the gilt 
cupolas of which support the orchestras ; and one's 
first entrance into it has a magical effect. The spec- 
tator is bewildered with a profusion of decorations 
of every kind that baffles description. The Corin- 
thian columns, with their gilt bases and capitals ; the 
delicate sculpture and gilding of the compartments 
of the ceiling ; the coves, painted by Lehman, repre- 
senting Man exercising his activity and talent over 
Nature, Science, and Art, illustrated by a hundred 
and eighty full-sized figures, in fifty-six groups ; the 
rich chandeliers and costly furniture — all these form 
a unique ensemble of taste and art. Communicating 
with this Salle, by open arches in the coves of the 
ceiling, is a gallery decorated with equal minuteness, 
where, on festive nights, the guests may witness the 
brilliant scene without mixing with the dancers 
below. Three doors lead into the Salle des Caryatides, 
which is a splendid Corinthian refreshment-room, the 
ceiling of which, painted in perspective, is supported 
by fourteen graceful caryatides. Two Ionic passages 
with elegant seats, communicate with the staircase, 
thus procuring a free circulation of air, and lead to 
the almost paradisiacal court or garden. Let the 
reader picture to himself this beautiful hall, illumed 
with floods of light, streaming from hundreds of 
tapers, arranged in graceful symmetry around, 
clustered in cornucopias held by cupids, or crowning 
the lustres depending from the ceiling ; elegant foun- 
tains playing under the arch which supports the 
Btairs, and forming miniature cascades, which, rush- 



362 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

ing through the artificial channels left between the 
costly flowers thickly planted around, find their way 
into the grottos beneath, where lovely genii are seen 
sporting in the cool waters, or peeping from behind 
the evergreens ; — let him imagine this scene ingeni- 
ously diversified in the other gorgeous apartments, 
the whole enlivened by all the wealth, beauty, and 
fashion the capital can muster, and he will come to 
the conviction that the fairy dreams of the Arabian 
Nights may fall far short of the reality 

One of the pleasant resorts in the neighborhood 
of Paris is the Jardin D'Acclimatation, which con- 
tains a large and curious variety of animated and 
vegetable nature. Unlike the garden of Plants, how- 
ever, this establishment only harbors such animals 
of foreign origin as are fit to be domesticated ; so 
that the visitor would in vain seek the lion, tiger, 
and hyena, which are here replaced by the hemione, 
tapir, Chinese pig, kangaroo, llama, besides various 
kinds of sheep, goats, stags, antelopes, gazelles, &c. 
The grounds comprise an area of thirty-three acres, 
beautifully laid out in walks encircling the pens or 
enclosures where the quadrupeds are kept, with pic- 
turesque little pavilions or cots containing the stables. 
They are intersected by a streamlet, dotted with 
islands, and spanned by rustic bridges. Here various 
aquatic plants are grown, while other rare specimens 
of vegetation abound on the surrounding grass-plots, 
such as the Spanish and California firs, the Japanese 
Spiria Argentea, the Chinese plum-tree, &c. Proceed- 
ing along the enclosures which skirt the rivulets, 
swarming with various kinds of fish, besides ducks, 



AQUARIUM, AVIARY, &c. 363 

geese, and swans from Canada, Patagonia, the Sand- 
wich Islands, Egypt, and other parts of the world, 
presenting a scene of agreeable animation, we arrive 
at the Aquarium, which is the chief attraction of the 
place, and beats the aquariums that of late years have 
become so very fashionable as ornaments in American 
parlors, graphically speaking, " all to pieces." Of the 
fourteen compartments which compose it, the first 
four are devoted to fresh-water fish, such as trout, 
salmon, eels, carp, &c. The habits of these finny 
occupants may here be accurately watched ; whether 
to admire their almost transparent bodies, or to 
follow their motions upward, to dart at some fly, 
or downward, to rest themselves upon the sand. 
The three next compartments are chiefly tenanted 
by various kinds of sea-anemones, some of extra- 
ordinary beauty, attached here and there to the 
rocks with which the compartments are lined. 
Among these there are also sea hedge-hogs, star- 
fish, &c, quite as sluggish as the anemones. The 
remaining places are occupied by zoophytes, Crustacea, 
molusks, &c. 

Not far from the Aquarium there is an elevated 
artificial rock for the gazelles, pierced with a grotto, 
from the crevices of which a good view may be had 
of the surrounding scenery. Then there is a semi- 
circular amphitheatre, with many-wired enclosures 
for poultry ; and further on a vast Aviary, consisting 
of sixteen wired cages, each provided with a little 
fountain and shrubs, and tenanted by peacocks, 
pheasants, doves, and other gallinaceous tribes. It 
is amusing to see the keepers, after sunset, coaxing 



364 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

the birds into their respective roosting-places, an 
operation not always unattended with difficulty. The 
number of eggs laid here by the fowls is immense, 
and the sale of them produces an aggregate sum of 
ten thousand francs per annum. The last object of 
importance here is a silk-worm nursery, where im- 
portant experiments have been made for the acclima- 
tization of the Chinese and Japanese silk-worms, said 
to be hardier races than that of Europe, so subject to 
epidemics. 



LETTER XXV. 

THE RAILROAD DEPOTS OF EUROPE. — DEPARTURE FROM 
PARIS. — CROSSING THE CHANNEL. — SEA-SICKNESS. — CA- 
LAIS.— ARRIVAL AT LONDON.— COMFORTABLE ONCE 
MORE. — THE TO WER. — ST. PA UL'S. — UNDERGROUND AND 
OVER-HEAD RAILROADS.— WESTMINSTER ABBEY. — LON- 
DON AND PARIS. — HOSPITALS. — LIVERPOOL. — VO YA GE 
HOME. — AN INCIDENT. — M. A. F:S " POME." 

New York, November, 1867. 

ONE of the most striking features of Europe, and 
one that impresses the stranger from America 
very favorably, too, is embodied in the magnificent 
railroad depots that the traveller encounters every- 
where, in small unimportant towns as well as in great 
and commercial cities. They are perfect palaces to 
all appearance, exceeding generally in capacity any 
that we can boast of in the United States, except, 
perhaps, the famous depot at Chicago. Many of 
them are built of marble, most tastefully designed 
and embellished with many appropriate statues and 
bas-reliefs. And of these, perhaps none is more beau- 
tiful and costly, nor more perfect in style, dimensions, 
and arrangement, in whole and in detail, than the 
Northern Depot of Paris. It was in this edifice of 
imperial splendor that I bade. farewell to the gay city, 
and was glad to enter — still weak and delicate from 
my recent sickness — the comfortable car that was to 
carry me to the brink of the continent, previous to 
crossing over into England. Only a few minutes, and 
Paris was behind us. 

(365) 



366 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

" Tell me, Charley," said my American friend, " can 
things go on as usual there, when we are absent ? can 
all those gay and festive people still continue to be 
jolly after we have gone ? will they ever be able to 
discuss their absinthe and their cafe noir, and make 
their horrible grimaces when we shall be no longer in 
their midst?" 

I nodded that I thought they would, and away 
we sped. 

It was the express train, and in about five hours 
delivered us safely at Calais. A short time previ- 
ously, at Arras, the passengers were given five min- 
utes time to gulp down a hasty dinner ; but few 
availed themselves of the generous opportunity ; for 
everybody seemed to have certain unmentionable mis- 
givings about the effect that the crossing of the chan- 
nel would have on these dinners if indulged in. One 
of the few, however, who knuckled down to the 
wants of the inner man was the subscriber ; nor did 
he violate the laws of digestion by dispatching his 
dinner in the five minutes allotted by a railroad com- 
pany, who evidently knew nothing about physiology. 
He carried the half of a cold chicken, a small bottle 
of claret, and a good honest chunk of bread with 
him into the car; then, with his handkerchief spread 
across his knees for a table-cloth, he was prepared to 
enjoy his meal leisurely, while the train moved on. 
An envious-looking Englishman in the opposite cor- 
ner, who was watching this process, and saw the 
clean-picked chicken-bones pass one by one out of the 
coach- window, at length remarked : 

" I am afraid, sir, that old Neptune will exact a 
heavy tribute from you, by-and-by." 



FROM PARIS TO CALAIS. 367 

" Are you, sir ? Well, possibly he may ; but I have 
just recovered from a spell of sickness, and am in 
the enjoyment of such a royal appetite that I would 
consider it sinful not to respond to it with the most 
obedient homage ; and if the angry sea-god chooses 
to make me pay up roundly, I will have at least the 
satisfaction of knowing that the ugly feeling he occa- 
sions was preceded by a right thoroughly contented 
stomach." 

As the toll which the sea exacts from uninitiated 
landsmen is only one of surplus gall, and I had none 
to spare, he knocked in vain at the portals ; for my 
portal circulation was in excellent humor, and I was 
left in undisturbed possession of my dinner at Arras ; 
whilst of the two hundred passengers on board, some 
hundred and fifty or more — my mistrusting English 
companion among the rest — with sallow skins and 
jaded, melancholy looks, paid up their dues to the 
relentless tax-collector, whose insignia of power is the 
awful trident. Indeed, the sight of all those sick 
people, with that display of tin basins that had been 
dealt out by the stewards, like cards in a game of 
whist, with a settled consciousness that there is no 
danger in the malady, was — to one who was not sick 
himself — about as droll and miserably ludicrous as 
any that can be conceived. 

However, we were only two hours crossing the 
channel, and when we were standing on the white 
cliffs of Dover, it was gratifying to see how all the 
recently distressed faces brightened up again in the 
clear October atmosphere that floated about our heads 
like gaseous wine, strengthening the weakest of us 



368 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

almost instantly into vigorous vitality. We did not 
stand there Ions:. There was a train of cars in wait- 
ing for us, and soon there was a general scramble for 
good accommodations and first-class corner-seats. It 
was quite a novelty to hear the guides and conductors 
sing out in English-, " London, sir ? will you go to 
Charing Cross, or Cannon Street Station, sir ? " Even 
the passengers, who hut an hour ago appeared to he 
French people, now chattered lively in the English 
language, as though they had thrown up all their 
French into the bosom of the ocean, and imbibed a 
healthy English vocabulary with the first whifY of 
air that rushed into their lungs on a solid bottom. 

Soon we were rattling along, with almost lightning 
speed, by the pretty villages, beautiful roadside cot- 
tages, and famous hop-fields of the county of Kent ; 
and arrived, at seven o'clock in the evening — twelve 
hours from the time of our departure at Paris — in the 
great metropolis of the world, London. The train had 
entered the city some distance before I was aware of it ; 
for it was moving along on the elevated tracks, from 
which we had to look downward to see the roofs of 
the buildings ; and I wondered for a while — it being 
in the dusk of the evening — what the countless little 
stacks and steeples of bricks signified, among which we 
seemed to be threading our serpentine course, when I 
was suddenly apprised of the fact that they were the 
chimneys of houses. We crossed and re-crossed the 
Thames twice, over two of the handsome and efficient 
bridges that span that river, and then glided slowly 
into the sombre enclosure of the Charing Cross Depot. 
Here I was detained but a brief period by the cour- 
teous custom officer, and then proceeded, in a Hansom 



ARRIVAL IN LONDON. 369 

cab, driven by a "coachy" perched high up at the 
back of the vehicle, to the quiet comforts of Morley'a 
Hotel, in Trafalgar Square. 

How pleasant it was to be installed once more in a 
cosy room, furnished with carpet — such a rare occur- 
rence on the continent — and warmed (it was near 
the middle of October, and rather chilly out-of-doors) 
by a cheerful grate-fire all aglow with burning bitu- 
minous coal. And how gratifying it was to listen to 
the English questions relative to one's personal and ali- 
mentary requirements, propounded by genteel clerks 
and polite, sprucely dressed waiters ! I don't believe 
that I ever enjoyed a meal in my life like that first 
supper in London. What a savory joint of beef was 
there, and what a luscious leg of mutton ! and then 
the mealy and nutritious potatoes ; the pearly wheaten 
bread, and sweet, delicious butter ; the great moun- 
tain of old English cheese that graced the centre of 
the table, by the side of a small forest of celery in a 
towering cut-glass goblet ! "What ! Dainty morsels 
of these viands, discussed at leisure, over a cloth as 
white as driven snow, and moistened under the gates 
of the palate by frequent libations from a mug of 
Allsop's beer — now, by the powers ! if I were skilled 
in Epicurean lore, or had at my command the honeyed 
phraseology of Miss Leslie's cook-book, methinks I 
could grow eloquent on the subject, and delight my 
readers with inspired periods. 

Of London, what shall I briefly say of the vast 
picture of a partly stationary and partly moving body 
of art that it presents, with its Tunnel, under the bed 
of a large river, and its railroads, now underground 

24 



370 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

among the foundations of the houses, and now, as 
before mentioned, in the air among their chimneys? 
There is the grim-looking Tower, sombre and solid 
and ancient to gaze upon, almost shrouded under the 
clustering patchwork of historic memories, that cling 
to us more from the writings of the great Shakspeare 
than from either Hume or Macaulay. 

There is the towering St. Paul's, cleaving and 
transpiercing the smoky atmosphere, till the gilded 
ball that crowns its steeple, fades away in the high 
distance, and becomes inscrutable to human eye, ex- 
cept on very exceptional clear days, of which I did 
not happen to experience any. Yet I have been on 
the highest outside gallery of its cupola, and gazed 
down upon the vast sea of houses, but dimly and im- 
perfectly visible through the thick volume of fog and 
smoke that was between us, and saw the Thames like 
a gray and milky stream winding its course lazily 
along between the high palaces and royal governmen- 
tal edifices that adorn a large portion of its shores. 
Then I have entered its interior Whispering Gallery, 
satisfied myself of its astonishing acoustic properties, 
and gazed down upon the people who were wandering 
about in the great nave of the cathedral, and looked 
like Lilliputian babies with precocious propensities 
for walking. Down below the building, among the 
consecrated vaults and proudly enshrined ashes of the 
great dead have I also strayed ; where the sarcophagi 
of Wellington and Lord Xelson stand out in royal 
conspicuousness above the rest, teaching the same les- 
son there that we may learn in our own cemeteries, in 
comparing the costly monuments they contain with the 
plain tomb-stones that tell the simple record of more 



LONDON AND PARIS COMPARED. 371 

humble graves, that there is in reality such a thing as 
a mockery of aristocracy preserved by the living even 
among the dead. 

Then there is Westminster Abbey, in the beautiful 
perfection of its Gothic architecture, with its remains 
of the great Queen Bess, Henry the Eighth, Mary 
Queen of Scots, and hundreds of others whose deeds 
and writings have preserved their names in the recol- 
lections of men for generations and generations to 
come. 

I cannot describe the feeling that possessed me in 
view of these reminiscences which called up the great 
record of the past, in the instructive and momentous 
history of England, any more than I could depict the 
emotions that were called forth in migrating through 
the avenues of this great city, crowded with the pres- 
ent living. How queer it appeared to me, to see, 
painted on boards fastened to the actual corners of 
streets, the familiar names of the Strand, Fleet Street, 
Temple Bar, Cheapside, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Picca- 
dilly, Paternoster Row, Bow Street, Regent Street, 
and hundreds of others that figure so conspicuously 
in all the novels that we have read time and again, 
and that make Dickens and Bulwer and Reynolds 
and Reade such very smart writers and cute observers 
of human nature, in our opinions. 

Altogether, I was agreeably surprised with London, 
and found it a much pleasanter place than I had 
formed any idea of from my previous readings. Its 
streets were not nearly so narrow nor so muddy as I 
had been taught to believe — though my sojourn there 
was at an unfavorable season. It appears at once 
very and strikingly dissimilar from Paris in this, that, 



372 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

although it has many costly and magnificent public 
and private structures, some of which, like St. Paul's 
and Westminster Abbey, are unequalled in Paris, yet 
it does not indicate any general architectural ambition 
in the people who have built this city. Whilst Paris 
has pervading all through it an outward appearance 
of show and beauty, — which appearance Napoleon is 
constantly engaged in magnifying from year to year, — 
London, on the contrary, indicates a more general 
arrangement for business purposes and practical util- 
ity. And although there is nothing in the way of 
popular amusements and facilities for fun and frolic 
that may not be participated in London, yet there is 
something of periodicity observed in the indulgence 
of these things ; whereas, the Parisians are governed 
by no set times, but a general seeking after pleasure 
seems to be the order of the whole day, and, appar- 
ently, the whole night too. In London you will see 
crowds of carts and omnibuses and cabs jammed up 
in the streets, and your ears be constantly greeted 
with the technical phraseology of teamsters and hack- 
drivers ; the doors of public buildings are constantly 
swinging on their hinges ; men are hurrying back 
and forth, hither and thither, in a quick, nervous, 
agitated gait, with business written on every feature, 
and indicated by every movement of their bodies — 
just as it is in New York ; whilst in Paris, you never 
see a blockade of vehicles ; the people never appear 
to be in a hurry, and there is comparatively little 
confusion, even in their great market-houses, during 
the busiest hours of the day. 

There is nothing in connection with my tour that 
I regret so much, as that I was not enabled to remain 



INSTITUTIONS OF LONDON 373 

a month at least in the city of London. It has so 
many excellent hospitals, so many charitable and 
noble public institutions to which I would have liked 
dearly to devote more than a passing glimpse, that 
the necessary brevity of my stay there was a great 
loss to me. One thing is sure, that, whatever Eng- 
land's faults may have been, there is no nation on the 
earth more philanthropic, and more active in the 
t grand work of progressive civilization, nor more 
crowded with different societies whose ruling creed 
is charity and benevolence to all men, than she. And 
I am not ashamed to say, that my feeling toward the 
British Government, in lieu of the little that I have ' 
witnessed during my brief stay among its people, is 
much kindlier than it was before. Perhaps the very 
fact that I had been travelling during six months in 
lands and among people where nothing but German, 
French, and Italian sounds greeted my untrained 
ears, was enough to make me cherish a hearty attach- 
ment for a nation whose people first approached me 
with the pleasant and familiar language of my own 
country. I regretted especially that I was not privi- 
leged to devote more time and attention to the clini- 
cal service in the wards of the widely celebrated Guy's 
and Bartholomew's hospitals ; but the limited obser- 
vations that I did make in these noble institutions 
filled me with respect and admiration, for the exceed- 
ingly kind and humane bearing that is maintained 
by all the attendants upon the afflicted occupants ; 
and by the very sensible and practical nature of the 
medical treatment that is there carried out. And 
while I listened in one of the amphitheatres to an 
instructive lecture by the distinguished Professor 



374 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Paget, in which he dwelt mainly on the advanced 
medical and surgical treatment of the present day, I 
conld not but cherish a lively gratitude for his unbi- 
assed candor. He frankly admitted, that the world was 
indebted, in a great measure, for our improved medi- 
cal resources at the bed-side, to the rapid advances of 
Homoeopathy. He did not use the hackneyed excuse, 
that there are cycles in disease which often require 
great deviations in treatment ; and that, although in 
the maladies of to-day blood-letting may not be appro- 
priate, yet that should be no reason why fifty years 
ago such treatment was uncalled for. He stated that 
he had not bled a patient in five years, nor had that 
sanguinary measure been resorted to with any of the 
numerous inmates of Guy's Hospital during a period 
of at least six months. 

From London to Liverpool, a distance of two hun- 
dred and four miles, I passed by railroad in five and 
a half hours, and I think it was the fastest travelling 
I ever did in my life. We made but four or five 
stoppages on the road, and then only long enough to 
supply the exhausted engine with water. 

The morning after my arrival at Liverpool, while 
in the breakfast-room of the Washington Hotel, (it 
almost seemed like home to be in a hotel called after 
that name,) I suddenly espied, among the guests 
seated at the numerous tables, Mr. and Mrs. B. Ban- 
nan, of Pottsville. It was quite a curious coincident, 
that after having accidentally kept clear of each other 
during the several months that we both were explor- 
ing Europe, we should at length, purely by accident, 
again meet on the very day of our departure from the 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 375 

Old TVorld, to find that we had unwittingly secured 
berths on the same steamer. 

At noon of the 16th October we glided down the 
Mersey, on board the reputed fast steamer City of 
Paris, of the Inman line. After a rough voyage, 
during the first week of which we encountered many 
gales and head-winds, we arrived at length at New 
York on our fourteenth clay out from Liverpool. 
Nothing occurred on board the ship during our pas- 
sage across the Atlantic to distinguish it from any 
similar event, except, perhaps, the very trifling cir- 
cumstance of a birth of twins among the steerage 
passengers, which my American friend considered of 
sufficient importance to commemorate with the fol- 
lowing lines : — 

Down, underneath the hatches, in a gloomy steerage hold, 

Where the sea against their cradle made an ever- wailing noise; 

Where no sunshine ever chased away the dank and loitering cold, 
Two tiny little babes were born, two rosy Irish boys. 

A moment, and the billowy spot on which they had their birth 
Could not be recognized again 'mid all the waste around; 

For them no blessed fatherland on all the wide, wide earth — 
No fixed and cherished natal-place can evermore be found. 

And hark ! the ocean sings to them a mournful lullaby ; 

It roars the smallness of the world into their feeble ears ; 
Drowns, with its moaning surge and splash, their new-awakened cry. 

The Ocean is their country, and the fishes their compeers. 

Rocked on the bosom of the sea, their Irish mother weeps 
To see her own caressing cares thus early cut in twain. 

Her jealous heart, by day and night, its faithful vigils keeps; 
Her soothing voice and cradling arms would tire the mighty main. 

Who knows but in a future day these native sailor-twins 
May devastate a nation's forts, and raise another's joys — 

Two other Nelsons, in respect to all but Nelson's sins — 
These on the surging broad Atlantic, free-born Irish boys. 



LETTER XXVI. 

REVIEW OF MY TRIP. — EUROPEAN MANNERS, CUSTOMS, 
POLITICS, &c. 

Pottsville, November, 1867. 

IN" a comparative allusion to the general topograph- 
ical character of the two countries, especially with 
reference to their agricultural capacities, I would 
state, that nowhere in Europe have I seen land so rich 
in its productiveness as is the major part of our Amer- 
ican soil. To say nothing of the vast plains in the 
Ear West, where the pristine forces of the ground have 
never heen drained by any cultured vegetation, or of 
the reeking fatness that throws such abundant har- 
vests from the fields of Missouri and Illinois — we 
need go no farther than our own rich soil of the Leb- 
anon Valley, or the beautiful district that is bisected 
by the East Pennsylvania Railroad, to challenge, for 
the abundance of their fertility, the choicest lands of 
Europe. 

Of England it must be said, that it exceeds in its 
agricultural loveliness anything that is presented by 
the Continent. Intending no disparagement of the 
fertile plains of Normandy, in Italy, or the romantic, 
joyous, vine-clad slopes of Tuscany, abounding with 
mulberry and olive trees, all garlanded with the creep- 
ing vines of luscious grapes, or the flowery environs 
of Milan, Bologna, Pistoja, Florence, Genoa, Spezzia, 
and Rome, there is nevertheless such a rich, deep- 

1*70 J 



THE COUNTRY OF ENGLAND. 377 

green, healthful, vigorous growth that characterizes 
what little I have seen of England with exceeding 
excellence, carries rapture to every observant eye, and 
touches the heart with all the poetry of Nature. 

In the county of Kent there is an especial beauty 
and freshness that captivate the senses with a deli- 
cious charm, and give evidence, not only of the natu- 
ral resources that lie tranquilly dormant within the 
soil, but of the industry and scientific economy that 
make the best possible uses of the land. The gentle 
roll and undulation of its surface, just enough to 
break up the monotony of a tiresome flatness, clothed 
in a mellow and deep-tinted verdure, intersected by 
numerous hedges, whose bewildering entanglement 
affords an apt illustration of the general perplexity 
of all human affairs, dotted all over with multifarious 
trees, like the big and little spots that beautify the 
leopard ; the copious and irregular sprinkling of snug 
and cosy-looking cottages, festooned with ivies and 
honeysuckles, and surrounded with collateral gran- 
aries, haystacks, dairies, and spring-houses ; animated 
with sleek, happy-looking kine, sportive sheep, proud 
and imperious gobblers in a fluttering dominion of 
barn-yard fowls ; the timid hare frisking spasmodi- 
cally along the hedges, the shy squirrel, tumbling and 
rolling and leaping from branch to branch of the old 
royal-oak tree that stands by the side of the barn ; 
pussy with her playful kittens having a frolicsome 
time on the greensward in front of the house, and 
Carlo, the faithful dog, basking dreamily under the 
genial rays of the sun on the back porch ; while the 
flowers all around make the air redolent with an 



378 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

aroma of delicious sweetness, — all these constitute of 
the country districts', and rural life in England, a sub- 
ject to which no words, nor the divine brush of Rosa 
Bonheur can contribute any adequate degree of justice. 

Of Italy it has been said that it is the garden of 
Europe ; but though it abounds in a variety of lus- 
cious fruits and vegetation that make it ornate and 
picturesque, there appears to be, nevertheless, a want 
of force and stamina in the soil that keeps the various 
grains and grasses down to a dwarfish relation with 
those of many other countries. In France and the 
south of Germany, when Nature is arrayed in her 
bridal vestment of summer, the appearance that she 
presents is luxurious in the extreme. 

In northern Germany the ground is more gravelly, 
stony, in many places — as the district wherein Berlin 
is situated — very sandy, and not nearly so replete 
with spontaneous fertility as in the countries before 
mentioned. Still, by dint of industry, and the appli- 
cation of science, very excellent crops of grain and 
such fruits as are incident to the colder portions of 
the temperate zone, as plums, apples, pears, and cher- 
ries, are very generally harvested. Thus Nature has 
favored Europe with much of her sublimity ; and 
though it has no lakes that equal those situated in 
the north-west of our own country, no rivers like the 
Mississippi and its tributaries, no cataract of water 
like that of Niagara, no plains and prairies, abound- 
ing with those other ornaments — luxurious eccentri- 
cities of Nature — the Indians and the buifaloes, like 
those of our Far West, — yet there are mountains and 
other scenery as wild and picturesque and majestic 



SOCIALITY OF EUROPE. 379 

as any of our own continent ; and its smaller lakes 
and rivers, as well as its old towns encircled with di- 
lapidated crumbling walls, are associated with the 
sacredness of historic lore and traditionary legends, 
so as to attach more or less interest to almost every 
fragment of their construction. 

As I was almost constantly on the great thorough- 
fares of travel, resting at the different important 
places only long enough to observe their most inter- 
esting features, and stopping, with a very few excep- 
tions, at the hotels, which are pretty much alike all 
over the Continent, it will be readily seen, that my 
opportunities for social intercourse and observation 
of life among the masses were extremely limited. 
Nevertheless, without insinuating myself into the 
sanctity of their domestic affairs, I have seen enough 
to be well assured, that the people all over Europe 
are exceedingly sociable, comparatively happy, and 
universally cordial and good-natured. 

In this latter respect, however, I beg leave to ex- 
cept Paris ; for, although the Parisians appear to be 
possessed of great courtesy and kindness, yet I make 
bold to assert, that it is only so long as these qualities 
do not interfere with the smallest fraction of their 
own selfish interests. Their world-famed politeness 
is only a superficial glossing over of their true char- 
acters — a studied and artistic accomplishment of the 
brain, that has about as much to do with genuine 
good-will and generosity of heart, as the coat of var- 
nish has with the uncouth knots and roughness of a 
pine board which it covers and disguises. They are 
about the most heartless people in the world, capable 



380 ACROSS TEE ATLANTIC. 

of no act of charity, except under the high pressure 
of the law. This extreme selfishness is, after all, the 
nucleus of their " Equality " philosophy and revolu- 
tionizing spirit, whose only alternative to the pursuit 
of extravagant pleasure appears to he an unconquer- 
able thirst for blood. It is eminently necessary, 
therefore, that they should he kept under the iron 
rule of despotism ; and Napoleon deserves great credit 
for the very effectual manner in which he does it. 
All the excellent qualities that characterize France, 
and especially Paris, all its royal splendor and mag- 
nificence, all its order and regularity, all prosperity in 
business, owe their continued existence to the great 
fiat of the law, carried out by the ever vigilant ser- 
geants de ville, who are the intermediate vassals be- 
tween the people and the great power at their head, 
that bends and moulds them to his will. I write 
advisedly of Paris ; for I have been sick in its ungra- 
cious, inhospitable midst, and know that every smile 
costs a franc, and every apparently kind action a 
whole fistful of them. 

How different is it in Vienna ! There the people 
are affable and generous to a fault. You stop any one 
in the street, and ask him the direction to such or such 
a place, and though it be a mile off, he will insist 
upon going with you to the very spot that you are 
in search of. They say the most absurd things to 
each other without getting angry, and nothing can 
upset them in their irresistible flow of good humor. 
They are a mutual contribution society of little affec- 
tionate attentions to each other, such as one meets 
with nowhere else. I met an Austrian officer one 



THE GOOD-NATURED MUNICHIANS. 381 

day at Geneva; and ere we had been an hour ac- 
quainted, upon finding out that I would shortly visit 
Vienna, he insisted upon it that I should occupy his 
quarters, and make use of his servant during my stay 
in that city ; " for," said he, " you might as well ; 
the fellow has nothing to do, and the rooms are va- 
cant. I would fain do my humble share toward ex- 
tending to you the hospitality of the city." Indeed, 
I do not wonder that these good-hearted Austrians 
make such indifferent soldiers ; the wonder is, how 
they could ever be induced to use the keen-edged 
steel and swift-winged bullets in deadly warfare 
against their fellow-beings at all. Even then they 
will be sinned against much more than sinning, and 
allow themselves to be cut up and slaughtered to the 
admiration of their enemies, and as martyred sacri- 
fices to their social constitutions. It is amusing to 
listen to the good-humored way in which these peo- 
ple talk about their defeat at Konigsgratz ; they 
" nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice." 
Nothing can be equal to their ingenuous candor, un- 
less it be that with which we Northern people of our 
own country have always admitted the disastrous 
defeat at Bull Run. 

Then, there is Munich ; another place where the 
citizens are as good-natured as the day is long. It is 
true, they are a little heavy from drinking too much 
beer; heavy in almost everything but music — and I 
am not sure but they are a little ponderous in that ; 
for it is generally of that intensely classical style 
which none but a thorough-bred Teuton can under- 
stand. When on the subject of music, or seated be- 



382 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

hind their beer, the Munichians are like the rebels 
were — in this that they want to be let alone. Their 
great musical genius is Richard Wagner, the com- 
poser of Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and Rienzi, and for 
whom their admiration amounts to positive frenzy. 
Whenever any of his operas are performed, the usual 
prices of admission are doubled ; and the rush is so 
great that in order to obtain seats it is necessary to 
secure them days in advance. Yet from the history 
that was told me of a portion of his career, it would 
seem that he is a most unscrupulous scoundrel, this 
same Wagner of Munich. Having taken part in 
the revolutionary troubles of 1848, he was proscribed 
by the government, and was, on one occasion, at the 
point of being arrested in the theatre of Dresden, 
when his friend, Franz Liszt, the great pianist, who 
was musical director of the orchestra, apprised him 
of his danger, and secretly conveyed him from the 
theatre to his own house ; after which he sent him, 
with a letter of introduction, to one of Liszt's friends 
at Zlirich, in Switzerland. This kindness on the part 
of Liszt, and the hospitality he received from the 
gentleman at Zurich, he rewarded by imposing finan- 
cially on the generosity of the latter, and, in the end, 
basely seducing his wife. 

Oh, but to see these people of Munich drink beer ! 
Staid, and dignified, and stiff-backed they sit at tables, 
with the capacious pots by their sides, and guzzle it 
down as if it was an inspiration from the gods, and 
every quart of it was worth a volume of the soundest 
dogmatism that was ever put on record. Yet it never 
seems to muddle their brains in the least, either. In 



TEMPERATE HABITS OF EUROPEANS. 383 

connection with this subject I may say, that all over 
Germany — in fact, all over Europe — I saw but one 
intoxicated individual, during the whole time I was 
there, and that one was a sailor in Wapping, of the 
city of London. I do not pretend to say, that there 
is not considerable drunkenness in Europe, but if 
there is, I did not see it. People undoubtedly drink 
a goodly quantity of wine throughout the day, and 
always with their meals, as well as brandy with their 
cafe., but the latter is only imbibed from small glasses 
(which, I am told, are called " poney glasses " here), 
in which it is measured out to the drinker. Were 
any one to pour out for himself " four fingers' full," 
in a tumbler, as it is too often the case with us, it 
would be looked upon as a suicidal proceeding. Such 
a thing as " going on a spree," I confidently believe, 
is not known in Germany ; and, in this respect at 
least, we in America have much to learn from the 
more rigid moderation in such things of the people 
of the Old World. As a matter of curiosity be it also 
said, that I did not observe a single person to chew 
tobacco ; an inordinate quantity is undoubtedly smoked, 
in pipes and in the form of cigars, and a good deal is 
also stuffed up the nostrils in the form of snuff ; but 
the chewing of it, with its accompanying filthy habit 
of spitting, is a very rare occurrence. Whilst stop- 
ping at one of the really fine hotels in Switzerland, 
a German gentleman seeing a spittoon placed by the 
side of a fluted column in one of the halls, not know- 
ing what it was for, and being possessed of an inquir- 
ing mind, called the attention of a waiter to the 
pretty and still cleanly article of queens ware, and said, 



384 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

" Why do you have that handsome dish standing on 
the floor ? That is no place for it ; wherefore do you 
not remove it ? " 

"Oh, yes," said the waiter, with a perfectly sober 
mien, " that is an article that we keep there for the 
Americans to spit in" 

Another very important matter that forced itself 
upon my attention was the good behavior of the 
youth all over Europe, but especially in Germany. 
The children are not nearly so boisterous, fast, and 
progressive in all sorts of worldly matters as in our 
own country. Demonstrations of rudeness from them 
are nowhere to be seen ; but politeness, and a due 
share of respect for all grown-up persons characterizes 
their conduct at all times. 

Politically, the various peoples of Europe have, in 
truth, very little to say ; they have only to come up 
to the requirements of the various sovereign wills 
that fate has placed over their heads, and that is all. 
Indeed, I cannot but wonder how a revolution on 
such a grand scale as France has several times been 
visited by, was at all possible, except by a weak army 
only partially under the control of the government, 
or through the spirit of dissension entering its rank 
and file. At present the armies of the different na- 
tions of the continent of Europe are so enormous in 
numbers, and kept under such perfect subjection, that 
all the governments may be looked upon as so many 
systems of purely military despotism. A great deal 
has been written recently by long-headed philosophers 
about an approaching millennium, when, it is hoped, 
all the great powers cf Europe will unite in a general 
disarmament, Poor, short-sighted philosophers ! Do 



TEE ARMIES OF EUROPE. 385 

they not see that the great armies are maintained not 
so much to wage war against a foreign foe, as to keep 
down in abject discipline the otherwise furious spirit 
of domestic revolution? With all despotic nations 
the armies, if they would sustain themselves, must 
always be increased in proportion to the increasing 
danger from the outraged and oppressed people. 
Small armies are only possible to republics. Thus, 
then, the people of Europe have little participation in 
political matters. Their free discussion is prohibited 
in the newspapers, and no opinions of any kind that 
do not strictly accord with the powers that be, either 
in public assemblages or in private intercourse, are 
permitted to be uttered. 

To all persons who purpose travelling through 
Europe, too much stress cannot be laid on the im- 
portance and propriety of making themselves familiar 
with at least one of the continental languages ; and 
of these the most important is the French, which is 
understood by almost all business people in Italy, and, 
to a large extent — especially on railroads and in the 
hotels — in Germany. It is extremely annoying and 
unsatisfactory to be sojourning among a people with 
whom one can have no verbal communication. Al- 
though it is possible to get along by means of inter- 
preters and guides, who are always to be had ; yet, 
to be dependent entirely upon these, constitutes one's 
enjoyment a very lame affair, besides being attended 
with considerable extra expense, as one is sure to be 
subjected to all sorts of inexplicable extortions from 
every direction. 

25 



LETTER XXVII. 

CONCLUDING LETTER, BY MY AMERICAN FRIEND. 

United States of America, a. d. 1867, j 
And of their Independence the §\st year. J 

MY friend has had his say in the preceding twenty- 
six letters, and I am afraid that he has inflicted 
therein a vast amount of wishy-washy stuff upon the 
dear, good-natured American public. As I take ex- 
ceptions to these letters in toto, in sum and in sub- 
stance, in whole and in detail, from beginning to end, 
as contrary to my loyal American feelings, I, there- 
fore, claim it as my just right to be heard also. I 
am, like Elihu, the friend of Job, almost bursting to 
express my opinions, and " sink or swim, live or die, 
survive or perish," whether or no, come what come 
may, I am bound to let 'em rip. 

In the first place, going across the Atlantic is a 
humbug ; there is n't a particle of sense in it ; it is 
worse than folly — it is madness. I paid an enormous 
big price to go in a nuisance of a French steamer, 
with a tempting bill of fare, and the wine thrown in 
for nothing. They know very well that nobody but 
sailors could eat anything if they would, and nobody 
but Frenchmen would drink their wine if they could ; 
for, drawn ever so mildly, it is as sour as crab-apple 
vineo-ar. I did n't eat a dollar's worth all the time 
I was on board. "Was sick all the way — sick! sick 
is n't the word ; if there had been a prospect of a 

(386) 



DISCOMFORTS OF A SHIP. 387 

decent burial, I would have committed suicide ; but 
there was n't, and so I remained alive, to spite my 
enemies and the sharks. 

Pah ! I shall never be able to get the smell of bilge- 
water out of my nostrils ; for my berth was near the 
rudder, and whenever the poop was struck by a heavy 
sea, the sulphuretted hydrogen, or whatever the 
abominable gas might be, would swell up like a 
whiff from the infernal regions. Goodness! to be 
laid up on a narrow shelf, with a tin pan fastened to 
the rim of it, for unmentionable purposes ; with a 
tight bandage around your stomach, another around 
your head, the shelf twisting and grinding and rock- 
ing from side to side, and head to foot alternately — 
goodness ! I say, where 's the poetry, or comfort, or 
fun, or anything else but misery in crossing the sea. 
" But hold," says my friend, " you 're goin^ ashore 
again some day ; you 're not to float upon the mighty 
main forever." Xo ; not if the court knows herself 
— and she thinks she do. 

Hurrah! Land ho! Just look at all the people 
rushing for the sides and taffrail of the ship, peering 
through their double-barrelled spy-glasses, to get a 
glimpse of the promised land. Look at the bright 
smile that lights up their faces once more ; listen to 
their shout of joy, will you? See how they go down 
stairs into the various cells of this floating dungeon, 
to pack up their fixings, strap down their trunks, 
and presently appear again on deck with new silk 
hats on their heads, and their best go-to-meeting 
clothes on their backs. Ha, ha, ha! I see that I 'm 
not the only one that is anxious to get off the shaky 



388 AC BOSS THE ATLANTIC. 

foundation of this crazy ship. Steady there! look 
sharp, boys, when you go down that ladder, for its 
bottom end touches an empire** Well, what if it does ? 
Hurrah for the President of the United States, any- 
how ! Hurrah for George Washington 1 Hurrah for 
General Jackson ! Hurrah for the great and glorious 
Fourth of July! 

Hallo there, you man on the wharf, with the brass 
coat and blue buttons — I mean the blue coat and 
brass buttons — how 's a fellow going to get his 
things off tbat ship? " Je ne comprend pas, mon- 
sieur." Oh, you be blowed ! why don't you talk Eng- 
lish like a gentleman and a scholar, and stop parley- 
vooing in that horrid style to your republican cousins 
across the ocean, and your betters ? 

The customs officer wants to know whether you 
have any cigars or tobacco, as if you was a smuggler 
from Cuba ; you answer with a whopper, and say — 
Non, monsieur, like a perfect lamb of innocence, and 
pride yourself on your wonderful French pronuncia- 
tion. Now you are fairly in for it, and the skinning 
begins ; at least such was the case with myself ; and 
the man that takes in the stranger approached me 
from every direction; — I found out that France was 
full of " poor boys," which was the definition I gave 
for a long time to the word pour boire, that was in 
everybody's mouth. By dint of these extorted bribes 
a man manages, from the time he opens his eyes in 
the morning to his going to sleep at night, to get rid 
of about as much small change as would buy shoot- 
ing-crackers for a large family of patriotic boys on 
Independence Day. 



KID GLOVES OF PARIS. 389 

Now being once more on terra firma, though it still 
seemed a little more see-sawy than before I entered 
that plaguey steamer, why, Richard was (without 
exaggerating the matter) himself again, and was, 
moreover, possessed of an enormous appetite, for the 
days of his fasting had been twelve in number. Ac- 
cordingly, one of the first sights of the Old World that 
I familiarized myself with was the interior of an 
eating-house. I gave one of the satellites to under- 
stand that I was hungry and wanted something to 
eat. This I did in bad English ; for whenever a body 
wants a foreigner to understand our sublime language, 
his first impulse, whereby he hopes to simplify the 
matter, is to mutilate the sentences and pronounce 
the words as execrably as possible. I found out, after 
a long and laborious conversation, in which any 
quantity of pantomime, shrugs, and grimaces were 
brought to bear upon my unsophisticated perceptions, 
that about the only substantial dish they were then 
supplied with was a ragout de veau, or stewed veal. 
Now the French, I have since learned, are a great 
people to serve up these ragouts — a form in which 
almost any kind of meat is most mysteriously dis- 
guised. Again, I found that in Paris an immense 
number of kid gloves are constantly manufactured ; 
but the kid is purely an Irish idiom, for the skins 
that the gloves are made of are of the domestic 
animals better known as rats, not kids. These skins 
are so readily converted into the finest kind of cover- 
ings for human hands, all that is necessary is to 
stretch them, tan them, cut them across the middle, 
and double the four legs over for fingers, and the tail 



390 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

for a thumb ; and, when finished, you have the very 
best of Jouvin's gloves — of all sizes, too, from those 
fitting the hand of a tiny little Miss, to that of a 
grenadier officer on dress parade. Sweet reader, can 
you draw the inference between the ragouts and 
"kid" gloves? As to myself, I cannot help asso- 
ciating the savory, highly seasoned French stews, 
with the dainty meats that once filled out these skins 
before they were gloves. 

Oh, what boots the doubtful character of the 
ragouts, or the fricasseed fish that have been kissed 
by the perfume from the sewers, or the hundred nasty 
kinds of cheese, when they may be washed down by 
the delicious nectarine juices, or the bottled nepenthe 
of fragrant cognac ? So says the enthusiastic tippler. 
Come, now ; that is all a hoax ; steady your nerves, 
my dear bamboozled friend, while I let you into the 
secret. 

Behold, then ! it is evening, and in the brilliant 
lustre that is shed upon the Boulevard des Italiens 
from the thousands of gas-lights, it is enough to make 
your eyes squint to keep the run of the two opposing 
currents of good-looking people who flit by you. You 
seat yourself among a crowd under one of the numer- 
ous awnings. You leisurely light a cigar, and smoke 
like the rest. Presently a gargon appears, and you 
order brandy and water — for you hate the sight, 
smell, and taste of their black coffee. In a few 
minutes the brandy stands before you in a graduated 
decanter, whose transverse marks denote the number 
of taken drinks as surely as the chalk record behind 
the closet-door of a country tavern. There is nothing 



THE WINES OF EUROPE. 391 

amiss about the first drink, and you take the second 
to make sure of its quality ; then you become absorbed 
in interest over the incidents of the moving scene 
before you, and, quite oblivious of your actions, one 
petit verve follows the other, until late at night, when, 
on rising to go home, you suddenly realize that you 
are drunk. 

Now this is nothing more nor less than what will 
happen to you if you drink the same amount of Old 
Bourbon whiskey ; and until French brandies can be 
drank with impunity without being followed by in- 
toxication, I contend that they are not a jot better 
than the distilled liquors of our own country — no, 
not a jot. 

As to the wines over which a large portion of my 
fellow-beings go into such foolish ecstasy, I abominate 
them all ; they are either too sweet or too sour, too 
white or too red, too weak or too strong, too cheap 
or too dear; they split your head with pain, and 
your feet with gout, sour your temper and stomach 
both, and play the deuce with your feelings generally 
— they don't half come up to the currant and goose- 
berry wines of our own Pennsylvania manufacture. 

The great and crowning bore to which every 
American is subjected when he visits the Old World, 
is the everlasting sight-seeing and rhapsodies he is 
expected to indulge in over the played-out relics of 
the dark ages. I walked in the great museums of 
art through gallery after gallery, and stared at the 
stupid designs and dingy, jaundiced-looking paint- 
ings, until my eyes and neck pained me to distrac- 
tion, and my legs trembled with fatigue. And I 



392 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

venture to submit, that if the great army of men 
and women who utter their stereotyped admiration, 
or scribble it, nodding over the midnight lamp, into 
their diaries, were to be compensated with money, 
(as in the honest pursuit of a professional calling,) for 
the labor they incur daily, the pay they would demand 
would be a good substantial one, I warrant me, 
though all the rapturous feelings to be enjoyed were 
thrown in to boot. In sober truth, now, what is there 
in all the greasy daubs that decorate those " classic " 
walls, that can at all compare with the modern pro- 
ductions of photography, whose counterfeit resem- 
blance of any given object is impressed by the bright 
god of day himself, and by those stubborn laws of 
nature that never deviate from a fixed precision? 
As to the painted mythological allegories that we 
pretend to gloat over, what in common sense is there, 
in all their heathenish fanciful discrepancies, that can 
possibly reward us for the trouble ? 

I have always had a more charitable feeling for the 
sculptor's art. There really is great skill and inge- 
nuity in the creation of a correct and beautiful image 
of any kind from a block of marble. It is purely of 
art, requiring accurate manipulation of eye, muscle, 
and nerve to produce, that cannot be eclipsed by any 
mysterious, inscrutable laws of chemistry. It has a 
tangible shape, body, and outlines, and is altogether 
a much pleasanter object than the flat deception on a 
piece of canvas, which, unlike the sculptured figure, 
admits of no close investigation. But the'*:, dear me, 
we have plenty of that sort of productions to admire 
in our own country ; we have only to ramble through 



TUMBLE-DOWN RUINS OF EUROPE 393 

the multifarious and sylvan avenues of Greenwood, 
on Long Island, or Laurel Hill, at Philadelphia, and 
the prospect of every variety of chiselled marble that 
there expands itself before the vision should satisfy, 
methinks, the most Canovian mind. Besides, the 
ramble is associated with a lesson in morality ; for 
it is well to see here what we may come to when 
we die. 

Of all the stupid employments wherein tourists do 
engage, the most sublime stupidity selects that of 
exploring the tumble-down ruins of old castles built 
by our semi-barbarous ancestors. To climb up all 
manner of precipitous slopes, from the verge of rivers 
and lakes, over endless zigzag roads, to where 

"The eaglo and the stork 
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build," 

just to see how strong and comfortless and unap- 
proachable those people could rear their uncouth 
homes, is a pleasure far beyond my dull perceptions ; 
and I am thankful that such architectural folly was 
never perpetrated in America. It is much more 
agreeable to dwell upon the points of beauty, style, 
comfort, and the environs of our own Fifth Avenue 
and Broad Street mansions. Those European medi- 
eval dungeons, with horrid historic associations, and 
baronial halls are enough to give a body the ague or 
the rheumatism ; it is sufficient that, in my youthful 
days, I have read the stories of their dark traditions, 
crouched near the flickering light of the fagots on 
the hearth, and I can well deny myself the pretended 
satisfaction of loitering among their goblin ruins. 



394 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 

Then there is the ascent of the customary number 
of Alpine peaks, the Rhigi, the St. Gothard, the Tete 
Noir, perhaps even Mont Blanc ; oh, Jupiter ! to 
what extremities men's folly leads them ! How my 
friend would trudge on, with chamois-hunter's staff, 
and provision-pouch slung across his shoulders, work- 
ing himself all aglow with bodily exercise and poetic 
fervor. Like that famous body of belligerents, he 
"first marched up the hill, and then marched down 
again." He had seen the sun rise and set — as if it 
was not possible to see that from the low purlieus of 
ordinary habitation ; had taken snow in his hand 
during the hot summer months on those mountain 
tops, and examined it as if it was a Yorick's skull ; 
had looked down into the misty clouds below him, 
and saw nothing ; but, oh, how jaded and fagged 
out he was in the evening, when he went to bed ! I 
was very intimate with him, and knew his secret 
thoughts upon the subject. 

" Charley, my boy," said I, " why do you persist in 
tiring yourself out, body and sole, in climbing up 
these horrid mountains ? " 

"Why, my dear friend," said he, "there is a gigan- 
tic elephant on every mountain-top, and you know 
that, however inaccessible the animal may seem, I 
could never deny myself the inspection of him, wher- 
ever it is at all possible." 

They have some grand churches in Europe, it is 
true ; and I have run the risk of breaking my neck 
in going up many of their steeples ; for it requires 
little less than the agility of a circus-actor to ascend 
some of them. 



CHURCHES OF EUROPE. 395 

It is mournful to behold what base and impious pur- 
poses these churches too often serve. I have seen 
rencontres of nearly every description, of love, jeal- 
ousy, and hatred, take place in the dark shadows of 
their marble columns ; and have observed mysterious 
love-signs pass between spruce young clerks and pretty 
dark-eyed maidens, while the latter were on their 
knees, and mechanically muttering a Pater Noster ; 
I have noticed dirty and importunate beggars and 
skulking thieves pollute, with their unholy presence, 
these consecrated naves ; have witnessed the exchange 
of money for bartered goods in quiet nooks and pri- 
vate altars, between the worshippers of Mammon and 
the filthy lucre. Indeed, Rome, ostensibly the cen- 
tral city of Christianity, with all its churches, to 
the number of all the days in the year, has probably 
more unbelievers at heart in it than any other city of 
an equal population in the world. 

I protest, finally, against the railroad system of 
Europe. Their little, suffocating boxes of cars, 
wherein half the passengers are obliged to ride back- 
wards are a nuisance. You are suffering from bron- 
chitis, or sore eyes, or a weak chest, or have an idio- 
syncratic horror of tobacco ; when, presently, one of 
your fellow-passengers lights a cigar and smokes it. 
This is a signal for all the rest ; cigars of every qual- 
ity, sooty pipes, tobacco, tinder-boxes, and matches 
are brought to bear upon your nerves, and directly 
the volume of smoke in the coach becomes so thick 
and dense that you cannot see the man who sits beside 
you. Without seeing him, however, you beg him to 
be kind enough to open the window ; to which he 



396 ACE OSS THE ATLANTIC. 

replies, with a grunt between the whiffs, that he could 
not think of it, for fear of taking cold. Almost 
strangling with the fumes of nicotin, you make a 
rush at the door, with the desperate intent of throw- 
ing yourself out ; though your speed is thirty-five 
miles an hour, you have resolved to take your chances 
thus in a pure atmosphere, rather than perish in this 
poisonous exhalation; but the door resists — it is 
locked from without, and you are a prisoner. "With 
a piercing shriek you fall back into your seat again, 
and pass over the remainder of the journey in convul- 
sive agony. Such is the penalty of travelling in the 
railroad cars of Europe. 

In sober earnest, now, let me say, in answer to the 
question that has been asked me by numerous friends, 
" Did you see any place in Europe that you liked 
better than America ? " Eo, I did not. Much there 
was to admire in the path of my travels ; the yearn- 
ing wish that I confess to have felt for years has been 
gratified ; and I cannot say but that it was entirely 
satisfactory. But I never loved America more than 
when I was away from its blessed shores ; and I never 
cherished it so dearly as I will hereafter, as long as I 
live. The magnitude of the ocean, and the serener 
charms of the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas ; the 
legendary and noble rivers — the Thames, the Rhine, 
the Danube and the Po ; the picturesque beauties of 
the Swiss lakes, and the grandeur of its towering, 
snow-capped mountains ; the historic interest of Yen- 
ice and Rome ; and the fascinations of London, Paris, 
Berlin, and Vienna, have all exerted their various 
and peculiar influences over me. But all the time I 



GOD BLESS AMERICA. 397 

was never forsaken by an uncomfortable sensation — 
the consciousness that I was continually suffered to 
wander under the heavy shadow of despotism, whose 
dark and lowering wings extended outward over my 
fellow-beings in every direction, even unto the borders 
of the mighty sea. And when my truant feet touched 
once more the fixed foundation of our mother earth, 
at the city of New York, under the beautiful and 
redeemed banner of the Great Republic, I assure you, 
kind reader, that the contact sent a thrill of joy 
through every nerve, and filled my every vein and 
artery with rejuvenated life. 

God bless our glorious country ! and grant that it 
may ever be in the future a terror to despots and ty- 
rants, and continue what, with divine grace, it always 
has been in the past — a refuge for the oppressed and 
persecuted spirits of every nation — " the Land of the 
Free, and the Home of the Brave." 



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or in cloth, price $1.75 each. 

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50 | Buried Alive, 25 



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GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY. 



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I 50 
1 50 



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War, 1 50 

The Cabin and Parlor. By J. 

Thornton Randolph, 1 50 

Memoirs °f Vidocq, the noted 

French Policeman, 1 50 



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The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. 



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Child of Waterloo, 75 

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Kenil worth, 

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25 I Life of Scott, cloth, 2 50 

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-oo- 

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do. do. cloth, 75 

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do. do. cloth, 75 



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75 

7o 



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1 50 

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75 



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illustrations, cloth, 1 75 



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cloth, 1 

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illustrations, 2 50 

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Poor Cousin, 

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Nan Darrel, , 



THE SHAKSPEARE NOVELS. 

By Robert Fnlkatrme William*. 

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The Youth of Shakspeare, 1 00 I 

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Newton Forster, 

King's Own 

Pirate and Three Cutters,.. 

Peter Simple, 

Percival Keene, 

Poor Jack, 



50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
50 
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LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEIT. 



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Life of Davv Crockett, 

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Life of Jonathan Wild, 

Life of Henry Thomas, 

Life of Arthur Spring, 

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Ninon De L'Encios, 

Lives of the Felons, 

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Biddy Woodhull, 

Life of Mother Brownrigg, 

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Capt. Blood and the Beatles,.. 
Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight 

for Life, 

Highwayman's Avenger, 

Life of Raoul De Surville 

Life of Rody the Rover 

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Jack Adams, the Mutineer,.... lb 

Jack Ariel's Adventures, 75 

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Life of Paul Periwinkle, 75 

Life of Torn Bowling, 75 

Percy Effingham, 75 

Cruising in the Last War, 75 

Red King, 50 

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The Flying Dutchman, 50 

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The Yankee Middy, 50 

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The King's Cruisers 50 

Life of Alexander Tardy 50 

Red Wing 50 

Yankee Jack 50 

Yankees in Japan, 50 

Morgan, the Buccaneer, 50 

Jack Junk, 50 

Davis, the Pirate, 50 

Valdez, the Pirate, 50 



Gallant Tom, 

Harry Helm 

Harry Tempest, 

Rebel and Rover,... 
Man-of-War's-Man. 



50 
50 
50 
50 
50 

Dark Shades of City Life, 25 

The Rats of the Seine, 25 

Charles Ransford, 25 

The Iron Cross, 25 

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The Pirate's Son, 25 

Jacob Faithful, 50 

Phantom Ship 50 

Midshipman Easy, 50 

Pacha of Many Tales, 50 

Naval Officer, 50 

Snarleyow, 50 

Newton Forster, 50 

King's Own, 50 

Japhet, 50 

50 
50 
50 
50 
50 



Pirate and Three Cutters,. 

Peter Simple, 

Percival Keene,. 

Poor Jack, 

Sea King, 



GEORGE LIPPARD'S GREAT BOOKS. 



The Quaker City, 3 50 

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Blanche of Brandywine 1 50 

Washington and his Generals; 
or, Legends of the American 

Revolution, 1 50 

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Above in cloth at $2.00 each. 



The Empire City, 75 

Memoirs of a Preacher, 75 

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Washington and his Men, 75 

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The Entranced, 25 

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The Bank Director's Son, 25 



MILITARY NOVELS. BY BEST AUTHORS. 



With Illuminated 

Charles O'Malley, 

Jack Hinton, the Guardsman, 

The Knight of Gwynue, 

Harry Lorrequer 

Tom Burke of Ours, 

Arthur O'Leary, 

Con Cretan, 

Kate O'Donoghue, 

Horace Templet on, 

Davenport Dunn 

Jack Adams' Adventures. 

Valentine Vox 

Twin Lieutenants, 

Stories of Waterloo. 

The Soldier's Wife, 

Guerilla Chief, 



Military Covers, in five Colors. 



The Three Guardsmen, 

Twenty Years After, 

Bragelonne. Son of Athos, 

Forty-five Guardsmen, 

Tom Bowling's Adventures,... 

Life of Robert Bruce, 

The Gipsy Chief, 

Massacre of Glencoe, 

Life of Guy Fawkes, 

Child of Waterloo, 

Adventures of Ben Brace, 

Life of Jack Ariel, 

Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 

Following the Drum, 

The Conscript, a Tale of War. 
By Alexander Dumas, 



75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
1 00 
50 

1 50 



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First Love, 

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Life and Adventures of Raoul De Surville, 



J. F. 

The Usurer's Victim; 
Thomas Balscoinbe, 



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or, 1 Adelaide Waldegrave; or, the 

.... 75 I Trials of a Governess, 75 



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Ralph Runnion, 

Seven Brothers of Wyoming 

The Rebel Bride, 

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Old Put; or, Days of 1776,.. 
Wau-uan-gee, 



Legends of Mexico, 

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Saratoga, 

Knights of the Golden Circle,.. 

The Guerilla Chief, 

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do. do. cloth, 



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Clara Moreland, 1 50 

Viola; or Adventures iu the 

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The Heiress of Bellefonte, and I Pioneer's Daughter and the 

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Ellen Norburv, I 

The Forged Will, I 

Kate Clarendon, 1 



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Year after Marriage, 50 

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Debtor's Daughter 50 

Mary Moreton, 50 maker's Daughters 50 

Six Nights with the Washingtonians 

tions. By Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $1.75; or in paper,. ..$1.50 
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Insubordination; or, the Shoe- 
maker's Daughters, 

With nine original Illustra- 



Christv & Wood's Song Book,. 10 

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Serenader's Song Book, 10 

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Alice Seymour, 

Mary Seaham 

Passion and Principle,. 

The Flirt, 

Good Society, 

Lion-Hearted, 



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Human Figure, with colored dissected plates of the Human Figure, 

Dr. Hollick's Family Physician, a Pocket Guide for Everybody, 



1 50 
25 



BOOKS BY CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



Elsie's Married Life, 75 

Leyton Hall. By Mark Lemon, 75 

The Brigand. By Victor Hugo, 75 

Crock of Gold. By Tupper,... 75 

Twins and Heart. By Tupper, 75 

The Orphans and Caleb Field,. 50 

Moreton Hall, 50 

Bell Brandon, 50 

Sybil Grey, 50 

Female Life in New York, 50 

Agnes Grey, 50 

Legends of Mexico, 50 

Eva St. Clair, 50 

Life of General MoClellan. 50 

Diary of a Physician, 50 

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The Monk, by Lewis 50 

The Beautiful French Girl,... 50 

The Admiral's Daughter,... 50 

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Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at 

Saratoga 50 

Ella Stratford 50 

Edgar Montrose, 50 

Josephine, by Grace Aguilar,.. 50 

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Women 50 

Robert Oaklands; or, the Out- 
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Abednego, the Money Lender,. 50 



Jenny Ambrose, 

Aunt Margaret's Trouble, 

The Grey Woman, 

The Deformed, 

Two Prima Donnas 

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Tom Tiddler's Ground 

The Mysterious Marriage, 

Jack Downing's Letters, 

The Mysteries of a Convent,... 

Rose Warrington, 

The Iron Cross 

Charles Ransford, 

Life of Archbishop Hughes,.... 

Life of General Butler, 

Life of General Meade 

The Mysteries of Bedlam 

The Nobleman's Daughter.... 
Madison's Exposition of Odd 

Fellowship, 

The Book of Ghost Stories,.... 
Ladies' Science of Etiquette,... 

The Valley Farm. 

The Abbey of Innismoyle, 

Gliddon's Ancient Egypt 

Philip in Search of a Wife, 

Father Tom and the Pope, in 

cloth gilt, 75 cents, or paper, 
Hollick's Family Physician,... 

RifleShots 

The Skilful Housewife, 



50 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 

25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 

50 
25 
25 
25 



J^T* Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of th.3 Retail Price, by 
T, B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 



T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 15 



PETERSONS' ILLUMINATED STORIES. 

Each Boole being in an "Illuminated Cover," in five color?, full of 
Illustrations, and arc ihe most saleable series of 25 cent books ever printed. 



R;;beland Rover, 25 

First Love 25 

The Two Merchants, 25 

A Year After Marriage, 25 

L »ve in High Life, 25 

The Divorced Wife, 25 

The Debtor's Daughter, 25 

The Lady at Home, 25 

Mary Moreton 25 

The'Two Brides, 25 

Dick Parker, 25 

Jutk Ketch 25 

M ither Brownrigg, 25 

Galloping Dick, 25 

Mary Bateraan 25 

Rioul de Surville 25 

Life of Harry Thomas, 25 

Mrs. Whipple & Jesse Strang's 

Adventures, 25 

Jonathan Wild's Adventures,.. 25 

Lives of the Felons, 25 



Ninon De L'Enclos' Life, 25 

Tholron Cross, 25 

Biddy Woodhull the Beautiful 

Haymaker, 25 

The River Pirates, 25 

Dark Shades of City Life, 25 

The Rats of the Seine...... 25 

Mysteries of Bedlam 25 



Charles Ransford, 25 

Mysteries of a Convent, 25 

The Mysterious Marriage, 25 

Capt. Blood, the Highwayman, 25 

Capt. Blood and the Beagles, 25 

Highwayman's Avenger, 25 

Rody the Rover's Adventures,. 25 
Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight 

for Life, 25 

Rose Warrington 25 

Ghost Stories, 25 

Arthur Spring 25 

The Valley Farm, 25 



SIR E. L. BULWER'S NOVELS. 



The Roue, 

The Oxonians, 



The Courtier, 25 

Falkland, 25 



EXPOSITIONS OF SECRET ORDERS, ETC 

Oid Fellowship Exposed, 13 I Dr. Berg's Answer to Arch- 
Sons of Malta Exposed 13 bishop Hughes, 



Life of Rev. John Maffit, 



13 ' Dr. Benr on Jesuits, 



RIDDELL'S MODEL ARCHITECT. 

Architectural Designs of Model Country Residences. By John Riddel] 
Practical Architect. Illustrated with twenty-two full page Front Eleva- 
ti ins, colored, with forty-four Plates of Ground Plans, including the First 
Bind Second Stories, with plans of the stories, full specifications of all the 
articles used, and estimate of price. Great attention is given to the in- 
ternal arrangements, in regard to the stairs, store-rooms, water-closet?, 
bath-rooms, and closets; also to heat, light, and ventilation. Prepared 
expressly for persons who contemplate building, and for Artisans through- 
out the United States. It is published in one large Royal Folio volume, 
measuring eighteen by fifteen inches in size, and when opened being three 
feet, and the whole bound in one volume, in the most substantial manner. 
Price Fifteen Dollars a Copy. 



Peterson's Complete Coin Book, containing fac-similes of all the 
Coins in the World, with the U. S. Mint value of each coin, 1 00 

New Card of Stamp Duties, approved by the last Acts of Congress, 
on a larare card. Official Edition, 



15 



£T 



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T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 



16 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 
LIEBIG'S WORKS ON CHEMISTRY. 

Agricultural Chemistry, 2o I Liebig's celebrate'! Letters on 

Animal Chemistry, 25 I the Potato Disease, 25 

Liebig's Complete Works on Chemistry, is also issued in one large 

octavo volume, bound in cloth. Price 2.1)0. 

GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN'S SPEECHES. 

Union Speeches. In 2 vols., each 25 I Downfall of England, 10 

Speech to the Fenians, 2b I Slavery and Emancipation, 15 

REV. CHAS. WADSWORTH'S SERMONS. 

America's Mission, 25 I A Thanksgiving Sermon, 15 

Thankfulness and Character,.. 25 I Politics in Religion, 12 

Henry Ward Beecher on War and Emancipation, 15 

Rev. William T. Brantley's Union Sermon, 15 

CURVED-POINT STEEL PENS. 

The Slip Pen, .... per dozen .25, per gross, $2.00 

The Barrel Pen, ... per " .50, " 5.00 

Magnum Bonum Pen, ... per " .75, " 7.50 

These pens are recommended to all, being preferred to the old-fash- 
ioned quill pen for easy writing. Give them a trial. 



Petersons' Counterfeit Detector and Bank Note List. 

Monthly, per annum $1.5') i Single Plumbers, 15 Cent, 

Semi-monthly, per annum, 3.00 I To Agents, a hundred, net Caih $10.(>() 

Every Business Man should Subscribe to this work. 
Subscriptions may commence with a'uy number. Terms always cash in advance- 
There is no better advertising medium to reach the business community through 
out the country than PETERSOXS' DETECTOR. Its circulation among the 
Banks, Bankers, Brokers, and enterprising Storekeepers, Mechanics, Farmers, Mer- 
chants aud Manufacturers, is very lartre aud increasing. Its distinctive character- 
istics mark it as more than au ordinarily valuable advertising medium, as will 
readily be spen by a refereuce to its brimming pages bristling with all the latest 
commercial reports, mouetarv matters, market quotations, and in fact, something 
of interest to every body. Advcrtispmeuts inserted in PETERSON'S DF.TEt'TOR 
will be seen by a large portion of the active and energetic people of the United 
States, and oar terms are lower than any other journal with the same circulation 
and influence. ^____ 

A good reliable Agent or Canvasser, is wanted in every town in 
this countrv, to engage in selling the popular and fast selling books, 
published by T. B. Peterson & Bros., 306 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
Apply in person, or address your orders with cash enclosed, f r what 
books you may wish to start with, and your orders will be filled at 
once, and the books sent to you per first express or mail as desired, after 
receipt of the money, Agents and Canvassers to pay transportation, 
and they can select their own territory. One hundred books assorted, 
sent at the hundred price. All in search of work or money should en- 
gage in selling our books at once. Large wages can be made, as we 
supply our Agents at very low rates. 

Send for our Canvassers' Confidential Circular containing instructions. 



Igg- Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 



A NEW BOOK BY MRS. ANN 8. STEPHENS. 



ABEL'S MISTAKE. 

BY MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. 

AUTHOR OF "FASHION AND FAMINE," " THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," 

" DOUBLY FALSE," " THE HEIRESS," " THE GOLD BRICK," 

"THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE REJECTED WIFE," 

" SILENT STRUGGLES," "MARY DERWENT," 

" THE WIFE'S SECRET," ETC., ETC. 

Price $1.75 in Cloth; or, $1.50 in Paper Cover. 

"It is only a few months since we chronicled the publication of 
' Doubly False' by this popular authoress, but although that book created 
an enthusiasm which perhaps no former work of hers ever surpassed, we 
find the volume before us in many respects worthy of higher praise than 
its predecessor. 

" In point of dramatic effect and thrilling interest, 'Mabel's Mistake' is 
fully its equal, and regarded in an artistic point of view, we think it su- 
perior both in its ran^e of characters and power of portrayal. The 
heroine, Mabel, is one of the most beautiful conceptions we remember in 
any book, and the leading assistant dramatis persona are drawn with a 
vigor and vividness that make them fitting auxiliaries. The character 
of James Harrington, in sacrificing whom along with herself to what she 
believed duty, Mabel's mistake consisted, is a noble, manly creation, that 
stands out before us as clearly as the men moving about us daily. 

" We shall not attempt any delineation of the plot — enough to say that 
among other prominent personage.--, the characters of the old father in his 
luxurious selfishness, the crafty quadroon, contrasted with the two young 
lovers, Lena and Ralph, are all managed with consummate skill. 

"From the first page to the last the interest never flags, and the plot 
will keep the most experienced novel reader in suspense to the denoue- 
ment. There are descriptions of scenery which are exquisite pictures in 
themselves, and passages of pathos and strength that are perfect poems, 
though unrhymed. There are exhibited all the diverse phases of life 
which Mrs. Stephens excels in portraying, from the quiet farm-house to 
the stately halls of wealth and fashion, and all the changes so artfully 
managed that the varied parts are wrought into one beautiful and com- 
plete whole." 

We have also just issued a new and uniform edition of the other 
popular works by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Their names are as fol- 
lows. Price of each, $1.50 in paper cover ; or $1.75 in cloth. 

FASHION AND FAMINE, THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS, 

THE OLD HOMESTEAD, THE WIFE'S SECRET, 

THE GOLD BRICK, SILENT STRUGGLES, 

DOUBLY FALSE, MARY DERWENT, 

THE REJECTED WIFE, THE HEIRESS. 

For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books 
will be sent free of postage, on receipt of price, by 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

Publishers, No. 806 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



A NEW BOOK B Y MRS . E. P. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. 

FAIR PLAY. 

BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. 

AUTHOR OF "THE LOST HEIRESS," " THE DESERTED WIFE," 

"THE MISSING BRIDE," "THE DISCARDED DAUGHTER," 

" THE FATAL MARRIAGE," " THE BRIDAL EVE," 

" RETRIBUTION," " THE MOTHER-IN-LAW." 

Price $1.75 in Cloth; or $1.50 in Paper Cover. 

FROM THE PREFACE OF "FAIR PLAY." 

"In offering this work in book form to my readers, I call it Fair 
Play, with some reference to ' Foul Play,* and for these reasons : 

" This work was first published in the New York Ledger, and copied in 
the London Journal, in 1S65 and 1866. 

"' Foul Play' is first published in 1868, and with so much resemblance 
to this work, as might lead any reader of both stories to suspect a plagia- 
rism on the one hand or the other. 

"This resemblance maybe found in that which has been called 'the 
most beautiful and original part' of each story, and which describes the 
strange situation of the shipwrecked lovers on the solitary island — a sit- 
uation, I thought, quite unique in literature. 

"Now, while I utterly disclaim all intention to charge the distinguished 
authors of the last-published of these works with any real 'foul pl"y,' 
I feel compelled to state the order in which the two stories first appeared, 
to secure for myself and my own work, fair play. 

" EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. 
" Prospect Cottage, Georgetown, October Slst, 1868." 



T. B. Peterson & Brothers have also just issued a new and uniform edi- 
tion of th^ other popular works by Mrs. Emma D.E.N. Southworth. Their 
names are as follows. Price of each $1.50 in paper; or $1.75 in cloth. 
MRS. SOUTHWORTH'S OTHER WORKS. 



How He Won Her 1 50 

Fair Play 1 50 

Fallen Pride 1 50 

The Victim Bride 1 50 

The Widow's Son 1 50 

Bride of Llewellyn 1 50 

The Fortune Seeker 1 50 

Allworth Abbey 1 50 

The Bridal Eve 1 50 

The Fatal Marriage 1 50 

Love's Labor Won 1 50 

Deserted Wife 1 50 

The Gipsy's Prophecy 1 50 

Each of the above books are published in paper cover at $1.50 each 
or each one is issued in cluth at $1.75 each. 



The Lost Heiress 1 50 

The Two Sisters 1 50 

The Three Beauties 1 50 

Vivia; or, the Secret of Power.. 1 50 

Lady of the Isle 1 50 

The'Missing Bride 1 50 

Wife's Victory 1 50 

The Mother-in-Law 1 50 

Haunted Homestead 1 50 

Retribution 1 50 

India; Pearl of Pearl Riyer 1 50 

Curse of Clifton 1 50 

Discarded Daughter 1 50 



For sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any of the above books will be 
sent to any one, free of postage, on receipt of price by the Publishers, 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

No. 906 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

H 94 89 



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